


» \\i X *,.■.. 



J\ % 



»V % J 




frau 



fc^i- 



1U 



i/lsv^j 




1836. 



"1 




SELECT REMAINS 



REV. WILLIAM NEVINS. D. D. 



t 



WITH A MEMOIR. 



S IA* 



1 He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God."— John. 



NEW YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN S. TAYLOR, 

CORNER OP PARK-ROW AND NASSAU-STREET, 
OPPOSITE THE CITT HALL. 

1836. 



t 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
eight hundred and thirty-six, by Rufus L. Nevins, in the Clerk's Office 
of the District Court of the United States, for the Southern District of New 
York. 



<£9^/ 



W. S. DORR, PRINTER. 



ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER. 



One of the dying requests of Dr. Nevins was, that 
no extended memoir of him might be attempted. Had 
no such request been made, yet the great barrenness 
of incident in all the early part of his life, and the fact 
that few materials for a biography were ever preserved 
by himself, would have led to the same result. 

His letters, too, though of peculiar and often thrill- 
ing interest, are yet almost invariably dependant for 
force and interest on circumstances of which the ge- 
neral reader could not properly be advised. Not one 
entire and long letter has been found, which it was, on 
the whole, deemed expedient to give to the public ; 
although many of them have lost none of the interest 
which they had in the minds of persons to whom they 
were originally addressed. 

In the following pages, the reader is presented with 
only a brief sketch of his short, but useful life, and with 
selections from his unpublished writings. 

The Lord bless the reader of this book. 



7// 



CONTENTS. 



C 



Biographical Notice of William Nevins, D. D, 

Theology, 

Religion, 

Religion and Morality, 

Creeds, 

Infidels, 

Infidelity, 

Philosophy, 

Reason, 

Faith and Reason, 

The Bible, 

God's Word, 

The Jewish Church, . 

Christianity, 

The Gospel, . 

The Power of the Gospel, 

God, .... 

Character of God, 

Trinity, 

Providence, 

Decrees, Election, Predestination, 

Divine Judgments, 

God's Mercy, . 

Divine Tenderness, 

Terms of Reconciliation with God, 

Divinity of Christ, . 

Love of Christ, 

Atonement, 

Christ's Resurrection, 

Character of Christ, 

What a Saviour, 

" I would see Jesus," 



Page. 

9 

83 

85 

87 

89 

91 

92 

93 

ib. 

96 

97 

102 

103 

104 

105 

110 

115 

116 

117 

118 

ib. 

120 

121 

122 

127 

131 

135 

137 

140 

ib. 

141 

143 



G 



CONTENTS. 



" He is able to save to the uttermost 

Imitation of Christ, 

Rejection of Christ, . 

Wrath of the Lamb, 

Work of the Spirit, . 

Angels, . . . 

Adam our Federal Head, 

Man, 

The Worth of the Soul, 

Human Accountability, 

Human Perfection, 

Sin, 

Sinner?, 

Folly of Sin, 

Depravity, 

Total Depravity, . 

Ruin Easy, yet Dreadful, 

The Sinner's Condition, . 

Pleas of Sinners, 

Inability, . 

Self-righteousness, 

Code of Honor, 

Conscience, 

Casuistry, . 

Judgment of Character, 

Self-knowledge, 

Hypocrites, 

Inconsistencies, 

The Christian, 

Happiness of the Righteous. 

The Saint and the Sinner, 

Reflection, 

Sense of Guilt, 

The Impenitent miserable of necessity 

Delay, 

Pride, 

Pride and Humility, . 

Unbelief, . 

Worldliness, . 

Animosity, 

Idolatry, 

Perversity, 

Intemperance, 

Evil Speaking, 

Applause, 



CONTENTS. 


7 




Page. 


Novel Reading and Theatres, .... 


211 


Perversions, ...... 


. 213 


Self-deception, . . . 


214 


"An Honest Man is the Noblest Work of God," 


. 217 


Influences, . . 


218 


Where are you going? .... 


. 219 


Death-bed Repentance, . . . , . 


220 


Conversion, ...... 


. 222 


Faith, . . . . • . 


223 


Faith and Practice, ..... 


. 225 


Repentance, ...... 


226 


" And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter," 


. 228 


What we hope for, ..... 


229 


Love, ....... 


. 231 


Love and Fear, ...... 


232 


Love of Truth, ..... 


. 233 


Truth and Charity, ......... 


234 


Heavenly-mindedness, .... 


. 236 


A Holy Life, 


237 


Knowledge, ...... 


. 238 


Controversy among Christians, .... 


241 


Differences of Opinion, .... 


. 242 


Contending for the Faith, . . ... 


244 


The Ministry and Preaching, 


. 251 


Visitation of the Sick, ..... 


254 


The Church, ...... 


. 257 


Spread of the Gospel, ..... 


258 


Missions, ...... 


ib. 


Why every body should have the Bible in twenty years, — an 


unpub- 


lished premium Tract, 


. 261 


Salvation great and difficult, .... 


291 


Fixed purposes, ..... 


. 303 


Labors of Love, ...... 


304 


Watchfulness, ..... 


. 305 


Confession, ...... 


306 


The yoke of Christ, ..... 


. 307 


Profession of Religion, . . 


308 


Reparation, ...... 


. 310 


Union, ....... 


311 


Good Morals, ...... 


ib. 


Entire Devotedness to God, . . 


312 


Prayer, ...... 


. 318 


Secret Prayer, ...... 


321 


Family Prayer, ...... 


. 323 


Prayer Meetings, ...... 


324 



8 



Praise, 

Riches, 

Wine in the Lord's Supper, 

Backsliding, 

Conformity to the World, 

Marriage, . 

The House of God, . 

Politics and Religion, 

Vows, . 

The Unpaid Vow, 

Hearing and Hearers, 

Temporal and Spiritual Blessings, 

Youth, 

The Aged, 

The Future, . 

Human Life, • • 

Length of Life, 

This Life and the next, 

Time and Eternity, . 

Eternity, . 

A New Year's Wish, 

Nearness of Death, 

Death, 

Another Victory over Death, 

Resurrection, . 

The Last Judgment, 

Moral Results, 

The Supper of the Lamb, 

Heaven, 

Future Punishment, 

Hell, . 

Tribute to the Memory of the Rev 

Extracts from Discourses, 



CONTENTS. 







Page. 

. 326 
327 





. 328 
ib. 


• 


. 329 
330 





. 331 
332 





ib. 
333 


-ings, , • • 


. 334 
335 




. 336 
338 


. 


. 339 

340 


. " • 


. 341 
342 


. 


. 343 
344 


. 


. 345 
346 


. 


. 348 
350 


. 


. 352 

354 


. 


. 357 

358 


. 


. 359 
360 


• 


. 362 


he Rev. Sylvester Larned, 


364 
. 367 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 



William Nevins was born in Norwich, Connecticut, 
October 13th, 1797. His parents had twelve children, 
of whom he was the youngest. His father, David 
Nevins, who was an officer in that tedious war which 
established our national independence, still lives, hav- 
ing- attained to nearly ninety years of age. His mother, 
whose maiden name was Mary Hubbard, was an esti- 
mable woman, and very attentive to the religious 
instruction of her children, teaching them, besides 
other things, that excellent summary of christian doc- 
trine, the Westminster Assembly's Catechism. The 
benefits of this instruction were with thoughtfulness 
acknowledged by her youngest son, during all his 
public life. This lady died in the year 1820. Twelve 
years after her death, he says, "The year 1820 is 
mournful in the retrospect. Our dear mother left us 
that year. But it was according to the course of 
nature, that our mother should go before us to eternity, 
and she sank to the grave by a gradual decline and 
full of years, having served her generation by the will 
of God." 



10 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OP 

His parents were not professors of religion when he 
lirst embraced the gospel. His solicitude for them was 
great, yet always marked with high respect and un- 
feigned filial affection. And it is a matter -of interest 
and encouragement, that his conversation and corres- 
pondence were not without their effect on at least one 
of his parents ; the other being led by other means to 
a knowledge of the truth. 

About the age of fourteen years, William came to 
New York, and entered a counting room. But though 
he was manifestly not indolent, yet it was soon appar- 
ent that his heart was not there. The fire of the love 
of knowledge was shut up in his bones. He remained, 
however, for one year. At the expiration of that time, 
his parents, convinced of the permanency and fervency 
of his desire to obtain a liberal education, yielded to his 
requests and the advice of friends, and consented to his 
returning home. He immediately commenced prepara- 
tory studies, and in due time entered Yale College, 
where he distinguished himself as a scholar. 

Up to this time, there had been nothing encouraging 
in his history on the subject of chief importance. Hav- 
ing great natural gayety of temper, and possessing 
rather unusual powers of wit, he had devoted himself, 
in his hours of leisure, rather to amusement, than to 
religious duties. But it pleased God, in his great love, 
to pour out his Holy Spirit on many hearts in this 
college, and, in the exercise of his adorable sovereignty 
and distinguishing love, to awaken our young friend to 
a sense of the importance of eternal things. It is to be 
peculiarly regretted that no record of his views, feelings 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 11 

and purposes at this time, can be found. The letters 
which he wrote to his friends on these subjects, have 
been irrecoverably lost. Some judicious persons, how- 
ever, to whom he revealed the state of his mind, 
thought his exercises deep, solemn, and scriptural ; 
and his subsequent course proved them to be thorough. 
He completed his course at Yale, and graduated at the 
commencement in 1816. 

He did not communicate with many persons respect- 
ing the course he should pursue after leaving college. 
The few survivors, to whom he did speak, remember 
with what solemn and cautious deliberation he came to 
the determination to study theology, preparatory to the 
work of the gospel ministry. He accordingly entered 
the Theological Seminary at Princeton, in the autumn 
of 1816. Here he remained three years, completing the 
whole course prescribed in the plan of the institution. 

About the time of his leaving the seminary, the 
rising republics of South America attracted his special 
attention ; and, for many months, he thought frequently 
and inquired earnestly, as to the duty of devoting his 
life to the spread of the gospel in some one of these 
young states. While his mind was undecided, his way 
was directed to Virginia. He visited Norfolk, Peters- 
burg and Richmond ; generally preaching with accept- 
ance. At the last mentioned place, he also labored 
for a short time among the unhappy inmates of the 
penitentiary. In Richmond, also, he formed an ac- 
quaintance with the family of that distinguished friend 
of man, the Rev. Dr. John H. Rice. This acquaintance 
grew into a matured and close friendship, which was 



12 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

interrupted only by death. Before leaving Richmond, 
our young preacher determined not to go to South 
America. 

In August, 1820, he commenced regular ministerial 
labors among the people of the First Presbyterian 
Church in Baltimore ; and on the 19th of October, of 
the same year, was ordained and regularly installed 
its pastor. In this new station, he addressed himself 
to his appropriate work with zeal and diligence. It 
would be interesting, and perhaps not unprofitable, 
under other circumstances, to spend a short time in 
contemplating the alternate hopes and fears, joys and 
sorrows of a youth of twenty-three years of age, under- 
taking to perform the duties of one of the most difficult 
and important posts in our country. But an allusion 
to the fact is all that is here proper. Let the reader 
remember, however, that he went not a warfare at his 
own charges or in his own strength. " The people 
that know their God shall be strong, and shall do 
exploits. Yea, the feeble among them shall be as 
David, and David shall be as the angel of God." 

In his congregation, he soon found one who was a 
kindred spirit, and eminently suited to be a coadjutor. 
It was ) r oung Colonel M' Henry. This comfort and 
help was not left to him long, however. "He was 
not, for God took him." In a letter to a friend, the 
subject of this notice thus expresses himself: 

"Baltimore, October 15, 1822. 
* * * * " I have been bereaved of a very valuable 
male friend and counsellor and help in my congre- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 13 

gation. It was but the day after the date of my last 
letter to you, that I heard of the death of young 
Colonel M'Henry, who was carried off by a bilious 
fever, at Mercersburg, Penn., on his return from Bed- 
ford. And since that time, I have been suffering under 
the severest pangs of bereavement. He was a young 
man of the first understanding, of the first family, of 
large estate, possessed of every ability and opportunity 
to be greatly useful, and besides all, was one of the 
most devoted, pure, consistent and active Christians 
that I ever saw. There was a singularly strong private 
attachment between us ; but that was nothing, com- 
pared with the strength and sacredness of the tie which 
bound us together as fellow-laborers in the same part 
of the vineyard of the Lord. He was shortly to have 
become one of my elders, and we had laid plans of 
usefulness and of co-operation in the cause of Christ, 
that were to reach far forward into futurity. But he is 
taken and I am left. A very bright page has been torn 
out of the book of my anticipations. Oh, my beloved 
and much lamented M'Henry ! My mind last week 
was very much agitated and cast down; yet my reflec- 
tions on his death led me to appreciate more highly 
than ever the worth of that religion, which gave him 
perfect peace on his death bed, and filled his departing 
soul with sublime and confident hope, so that he went 
into eternity with a willing obedience and a filial fear- 



Before this time, he had entered into a marriage 

engagement with Miss Mary Lloyd, daughter of the 

2 



14 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

Hon. Philip Barton Key, of Georgetown, a lady of 
great worth, and in every respect suited to make him 
happy and useful. His duties as pastor increasing, if 
not in number, yet in force upon his mind, he pleas- 
antly remarked to a friend, that it seemed to him as if 
he should " hardly have time to be married." On the 
eve of his marriage, he thus writes : 

"Baltimore, October 15, 1822. 
" Both my mind and my time are, of course, some- 
what occupied in preparations for my marriage. I 
anticipate, of course, a good deal of what is called 
happiness, and probably I have as good reason to do so 
as any one ; yet frequently and anxiously do I reflect 
on the uncertainty of all human things ; and that the 
very mercifulness of God may disappoint me of what I 
am looking forward to. I make it my constant prayer 
and endeavor, that I may be prepared for disappoint- 
ment, and that I may be brought to that state of mind 
in which I shall piously and submissively bow to all 
the divine will concerning me and mine." 

With these views, he was married, November 13, 
1822. Five children were given by God to these 
parents. Of these, the eldest and the youngest sleep. 
The other three, one son and two daughters, remain 
unto this present time. 

From the time of his settlement, for six or seven 
years, nothing very unusual to the life of a pastor 
occurred in his congregation. He grew in the estima- 
tion and affections of his people, and in zeal and desires 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 15 

for usefulness. Indeed, an examination of his manu- 
scripts, would convince any one, that about the year 
1826 there was a decided increase of solemnity and 
directness of appeal in his sermons. And the unc- 
tion, that he about this time received, abode with him. 
His preaching became more and more solemn, direct, 
plain and pungent, until the winter of 1826-7, when 
it pleased the great Head of the church to grant a time 
of refreshing to one or two churches in Baltimore. In 
this blessed work, the first Church shared largely. It 
is to be regretted that no account of this work is to be 
found. The fruits of it were a very large addition of 
valuable members, many of whom still live to adorn 
the doctrine of God their Saviour. Neither in this nor 
subsequent seasons of special attention to religion in 
his church, did this judicious pastor have resort to any 
of the modern devices for creating or maintaining 
excitement. He also solemnly warned his people 
against a premature profession. 

On the tenth anniversary of his settlement among 
his people, Dr. Nevins preached a discourse founded on 
the words, " The time is short." It is a solemn and 
interesting discourse. From this sermon, it appears 
that during the ten years, there had been added to the 
church under his care on examination, upwards of two 
hundred and twenty members ; and that during the 
same period, he had attended the burial of about two 
hundred and sixty persons, many of whom, however, 
were infants, and many more not connected with his 
pastoral charge in anywise. How few pastors can, at 
the end of ten years, furnish such statistics, as matter 



16 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

of thanksgiving to God— the number of hopeful con- 
versions, at least, equalling the number of deaths in his 
congregation. 

Perhaps few, if any, ever exceeded Dr. Nevins in 
fidelity to his unconverted friends. All his private 
papers prove this. It is not proper to submit all 
these proofs before the reader. Let the following 
suffice : 

" Baltimore, November 19, 1825. 
« I wish my venerable father to be reconciled to a 
departure from this world, not because he has lived 
long and enjoyed much, but by virtue of an assured 
prospect of a better and brighter world beyond it. 
Indeed, this is the last grand desire which I have for 
him, and though the gratification of it is long deferred, 
yet I hope, I pray it may not be ultimately disap- 
pointed." 

In another letter, he says : 

"If all my relatives were followers of the Lord, I 
should feel easy about them, though in the midst of 
pestilence. Death, even by the cholera, is gain to the 
Christian." 

In another letter, he quotes Paul's strong language, 
in part ; Rom. ix. 2, 3. " I have great heaviness and 
continual sorrow in my heart for my brethren, my kins- 
men, according to the flesh." 

In another, dated July 4, 1831, he says: "It de- 
serves our grateful notice, that no adult, of our name, 
has died since 1820. How few families of the same 
size can say that ! " 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 17 

About six weeks before he died, he wrote the follow- 
ing, and requested a copy to be sent to each of his 
relatives : 

" I would affectionately and earnestly request of my 
beloved relatives, my brothers and sisters, my nephews 
and nieces, and all, that they would, at least once 
every week, and I wish it could be once every day, 
read, deliberately and seriously, a portion of the Bible, 
the word of God, with earnest prayer to God, that he 
would enlighten their minds by his Spirit, to under- 
stand, especially, so much of his word, as relates to 
their duty and the way of salvation by Christ, and that 
he would give them grace to feel and act according to 
the knowledge thus acquired. 

"WILLIAM NEVINS. 

11 Baltimore, August 1, 1835." 

Nor was his solicitude confined merely to his own 
family. It extended to his wife's family. Of this, 
there are many proofs. The following memoranda are 
made by him : 

"March 27, 1830. A memorable day ! Last evening 
I heard of the death of my poor dear sister, Louisa Key ; 
with difficulty, I suppressed my feelings and kept it 
from my wife until this morning, when, to her first, and 

then successively to Mrs. Key, R , and A , I 

broke the heavy tidings. Dear, loved Louisa, my sister, 
for my heart tells me in its agony that thou wast loved, 

art thou indeed gone 1 It is no delusive dream ; but sad, 

2* 



18 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

shocking reality. Yes, thou art gone ! So soon and for 
ever gone: — how unexpectedly to us; how unexpect- 
edly to thee. Oh my sister, I could weep out these eyes 
for thee ! — 1 could break my heart for thee ! Thou 

didst not think that thou wast going to L to find 

a grave ! A few days ago, thou wast moving, admired 
and admiring, among the too fascinating gayeties of 
N. O. ; — now, thou art — where art thou, dear spirit 1 
Late, though it was, yet at last, I trust, thou didst love 
and look to Jesus, and he who turned not away the 
prayer of one whose last utterance was, 'Lord remem- 
ber me,' heard thee, I fondly hope, and did not forget 
thee in that hour of thy need. Poor young thing! thou 
wast not familiar with death. He had never before 
presented himself to thee — thou didst not expect him — 
but he came ! Oh, if I were but assured that Jesus was 
with thee then, and that thou art now with him, I 
should still weep, but they would be tears of gratitude ! 
Oh, if thou art with him, stay where thou art ! I 
would not call thee back — thou wouldst not come ! 
No, if thou sleepest in Jesus, sleep on ; I would not 
wake thee ! Oh Louisa, I wish I had been more 
faithful to thee ; I wish I had prayed for thee more. I 
might have been a better brother to thee. But there 
is one that did, night and morning, pray for thee — thy 
mother ; and her desire for thee was not worldly pros- 
perity, but that her child might be a child of God. 
Oh Louisa, what cotild I do for thee now, now that 
nothing can be done for thee ! I will be more faithful 
to thy sisters, and will say to them, what I know thou 
wouldst say, couldst thou speak to them from thy new 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 19 

home in eternity. Poor E , I pity thee. God have 

mercy on thee. She, that was more to thee than thy 
sister, thine other self, is taken from thee. She came 
into being with thee, but has gone out without thee. 
The set is broken ; one of the pair is gone ; but thou 
mayest be mated again to thy Louisa. Oh, may 
heaven reunite you ! 

"June 1. Yesterday, our dear friends from Louisiana, 
after long and anxious expectation of them, arrived. 

Poor E , the shock of the meeting caused her 

reason to totter on its throne ; but to-day it sits firm in 
its seat. Alas, Louisa is not ; she went, but she came 
not again with them. Oh death, rarely hast thou ever 
gained a richer victory, or carried off a lovelier trophy ! 
And yet, I trust it was only an apparent victory, and 
that the spirit of Louisa was laid a trophy at the feet 
of Jesus. Oh, I trust that through grace she is saved. 
In the delirium of her disease, she called constantly on 
her mother, — ' Mother, mother, come to your child.' 
Ah, she would have come, she would have flown on 
the wings of love ; but she heard not, she knew not of 
it — she could not come ; but oh, I trust, Jesus came at 
the call, and he was better to her than her mother. 
They asked her where she thought she would go when 
she died, and she raised her eyes and lifted her finger, 
and said, ' to Heaven.' And there, I trust, she is waiting 
for us. Oh God, didst thou not take away from her the 
terror of death, and inspire that hope 1 She wanted to 

leave a message for E , but it was too late. She 

articulated 'E ,' but could no more, and presently 

was fast in the embrace of death." 



20 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OP 

The following extracts from Dr. Nevins' diary, are 
given in an unbroken series, solely because it was 
judged best that the reader should see his viewa as 
he recorded them in private. They treat of matters, 
many of which are noticed elsewhere, but as there are 
no tedious details, they are given entire : 

"January 1, 1830. Ebenezer ! Hitherto hath the Lord 
helped me. Preached to-day, I trust, with somewhat of 
the right kind of spirit. Blessed be God, that I think I 
never commenced a year so well. May He strengthen 
me to fulfil all my resolutions ! 

'■ January 7, 1830. I had a good day on the sabbath, 
and hope that good was done, which eternity will reveal, 
if it should never appear in time. Last evening I spoke 
on the concern which Christians ought to feel for the 
salvation of souls. Oh that I might habitually feel it. 
How it would excite me to duty. Thanks to God, that 
yesterday I found one soul awaking if not awakened. 
May she sleep never again until she sleep in Jesus. 
How hard it is to keep one's resolutions ! It requires 
unremitted watchfulness :— and what is so difficult as to 
be ever watchful ! 

" January 28, 1830. How mercifully has God dealt 
with me ! How entirely unencumbered am I with the 
care of providing for the earthly support of myself and 
my family ! How many much more worthy ministers 
are straitened in their worldly circumstances, while I 
possess the greatest abundance ! Oh that 1 may sympa- 
thize with my poorer brethren, and never harden my 
heart against them, but be always ready to communicate 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 21 

to them, and in every way to assist them ; may grati- 
tude impel me to this, and may I remember how easily 
God may withdraw from me my support, by disqualifying 
me for the ministry, or alienating my people from me. 
Oh, to make such a use of money as to be able to give 
account of it with joy ; and oh, to be faithful to my 
Lord and Master in all things ! Oh, to be delivered from 
the fear of man ! 

"February 3, 1830. Called on Mrs. A , who 

has been anxious for some time past, and found her 
rejoicing in hope. She spoke of having received great 
comfort and instruction from my sermon last Sunday, 
on 2 Cor. vii, 10. I felt a confidence that God would 
accomplish some good by it. 

"February 4, 1830. Oh, that God, by his abund- 
ant grace, would keep me from being lifted up with 
pride. God forbid, especially, that I should be ever 
left to take to myself any of the credit of a conversion. 
Let me not think that even my instrumentality is 
needed by the Lord. How easily he could do without 
me. It is an act of pure favor, that I am permitted to 
be in any way subservient to the spiritual good of others, 
and so may I ever esteem it. Laus Deo, be my 
motto ! 

"February 5, 1830. Oh take away from me the 
fear of death ! How far am I from that perfection of 
love which casts out fear ! May I place my happiness 
in the enjoyment of God alone, and account heaven 
my home, and myself a pilgrim here. 

"February 14, 1830. The Lord has helped me 
through this day; but Oh, if he should make the 



22 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

success of my ministry depend on the worthiness of it, 
alas for my poor people ! At the close of the Sabbath, 
I always find, in looking back on the day, many causes 
of regret. I suffer trifles unduly to affect me. 

"March 7, 1830. Three years ago this Sabbath, 
the reviving work of God began among us. How 
much we need now the renewal of it ! The three last 
sabbaths I have been greatly aided. I am determined 
to pray more than I have done. Something is wanting, 
and I think it is prayer — the prayer of faith. Oh, for 
faith to offer the prayer of faith ! I could scarcely get 
out the Lord's message this afternoon, so hoarse was I; 
but I delivered it, and he will see to it. It is his word, 
and the cause is his. I rejoice that his honor is con- 
cerned in the progress of the gospel. It must go on 
and ultimately triumph, for his glory requires that it 
should. Truth, even the truth as it is in Jesus, will, 
must prevail ; but ah, ere her final victory is won, how 
many will fall in her conflicts with error ! 

"March 10, 1830. This slight indisposition, under 
which I am now laboring, has led me to reflect, first, 
on the great goodness of God to me, as it regards the 
matter of health ; how wonderful has been the forbear- 
ance of God to me in this respect; and it has been 
equally so towards my family. None can owe a deeper 
debt of gratitude to God, than do I. How many of 
my dear brethren in the ministry have been cut off, 
or have been laid aside through indisposition, or have 
been bereaved of those most beloved by them. It is 
God that has made me to differ from them. How few 
disappointments have I been called to suffer. To how 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 23 

few trials has my submission been put, and how light 
they have been! I record this fact with mingled 
trembling and thankfulness. I know not what awaits 
me. I am glad that I do not. I rejoice that the future 
is as the past has been with God. May I feel that he 
rules, and rejoice that he rules. And will he prepare 
me, (for I feel how unprepared I am now,) for all his 
purposes in regard to me and my family? Will he but 
give me the grace of submission, when he puts me 
to any trial 1 Without his grace, I can neither do nor 
bear any thing. 

"I have been led, also, to reflect how easily God 
might disqualify me for the work of the ministry ; and 
Oh, how justly he might do it ; and how well he could 
spare me ! Let me never think, as my wicked heart 
would sometimes suggest, that I am necessary to God, 
and that his cause requires my advocacy and influence. 
No, let me rather feel that it is kindness and forbear- 
ance on the part of God, which permits me to exercise 
this high office. It is an honor that God confers upon 
me. All the obligation is on my part. Oh blessed 
Master, if it please thee, let me continue to preach 
thy gospel ; and oh, that I may ever have thy glory for 
my single object. I am too prone to seek my own 
glory, and to wish to make a favorable impression for 
myself rather than for thee; and for this, I condemn 
myself before thee ; and I err also, in feeling sometimes 
as if I were going to effect something by the simple 
force of argument or power of persuasion. Oh, that 
a sense of my dependance on the Spirit of Christ 
for the success of my ministration, were wrought into 



24 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

me, so that I could never, never lose it ; with his glory 
for my aim, and his strength for my aid, what might 
I not accomplish, or rather what would he not accom- 
plish by me ! 

"April 30, 1830. It is awful to make use of the 
cross of Christ as a ladder to distinction. I am reading 
Payson's life ; what a man ! Can my character be the 
same, even in kind, with his? In degree, how dissim- 
ilar it certainly is. But what he was, grace made him ; 
and the same it can make me. I observe this as a day 
of abstinence and special prayer. My body must be kept 
under. Did Paul feel the necessity of this, and should 
not 1 1 Effort is much easier than self-denial. I can 
more easily and cheerfully make many wearisome 
efforts, than practice one act of abstinence. Therefore 
the latter is the better test of character. 

"June 22, 1830. I have never found any thing 
but pain in self-indulgence, and never any thing but 
the sweetest pleasure in self-denial, and yet, so in- 
fatuated and so depraved, I will indulge myself, and 
will not deny myself. Oh, how deceitful is sin ! It 
does not merely deceive once, but the same sin will, 
over and over again, successfully practice the very 
same deceit. 

July 15, 1830. I have been away from my people 
nearly three weeks ; and the Lord has preserved me 
and my family, and increased, as he is hourly increas- 
ing, the debt of gratitude I owe him. But how slack 
am I to pay, and, indeed, how unconscious often of the 
debt. Surely, the least we can return for goodness is 
gratitude. How far am I from God ! Far as I ordi- 



William nevins, d. d. 25 

harily am, one of these journeys puts me farther still. 
It is time I should return, and henceforth follow the 
Lord fully. 

" October 13, 1830. This day I complete my 
thirty-third year. Hitherto hath the Lord helped me, 
and yet how little have I done for him ! Let gratitude 
and repentance mingle in my exercises to-day, in view 
of the reflections, how great his goodness, and how 
great my unfaithfulness. 

" November 24, 1830. I have been useless for some- 
time past, in consequence of a hacking cough. I find 
bodily indisposition by no means favorable to the health 
of the soul. 

"April 20, 1831. How long it is since I made any 
record here ; and yet I have had much of the goodness 
of God to record. I have, in the interval, been at 
W — — , and the Lord has honored my unworthy instru- 
mentality. To-day I have heard that some brethren 
from New York will be here to help me. Oh that God 
would come with them, else they come in vain ; and let 
us not place dependance on them — remembering that 
he is a God, jealous for his glory. Oh, my God, do, 
for thy great and holy name's sake, make this a time 
of stupendous mercy to this portion of thy Zioh^— a 
season memorable and to be remembered with : joy 
throughout eternity ! Oh, that our unworthiness may 
not stand in the way of God ! It will not. Oh that he 
would make us humble and contrite, and prepare u3 to 
be blessed. 

"April 28, 1831. Well, I can say with the Psalmist 
now, 'Verily God hath heard; he hath attended to 



26 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

the voice of my prayer ; blessed be God, who hath not 
turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.' 
Though we were but poorly prepared to receive him, 
and owe to him the little preparation we had, yet 
he has come, and beheld with pity our desolations. 
Thanks to his name ; may he not suffer us to grieve 
his Holy Spirit. And may he multiply the wonders of 
his grace, and never leave us more. May we all lie 
low in the dust before him, and give him the glory. 

" May 12, 1831. Some drops of mercy have fallen. 
Some dozen souls, I hope, have been recently converted 
to God. Glory to him for this. But is this all 1 Doth 
not an abundant shower await us 1 Oh that the ap- 
pearances of rain may not pass off, as in nature they 
sometimes do, and leave us still desolate and dry ! Oh, 
may every christian reverently resolve, 'I will not let 
thee go, except thou bless us.' Alas, I am not in that 
frame of spirit in which I ought to be. Help me, O 
Lord, from this moment forth, to be more grave, self- 
denied, humble, anxious, prayerful ! 

"June 14, 1831. Oh that I had such views always, 
as I have sometimes ; that I felt uniformly as I feel 
occasionally; how different a being I should be ! Some- 
times I have a transient view of the divine conde- 
scension, which is inexpressibly affecting, but soon I 
lose it. 

"June 22, 1831. I am dissatisfied with my present 
state, and yet have not energy enough to attempt 
reformation. 

"June 28, 1831. Yesterday, I spent a pleasant, 
and I hope a profitable day ; but I have not the same 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 27 

prospect to-day. I can easily trace all my disquiet and 
unhappiness to sin. Oh, if it were not for that ; and 
yet how I cleave to it ; how loth I am to part with 
it ! I pray to be delivered from it. 

" September 16, 1831. This day my dear brother 
Richard died ; I arrived in New York the evening before. 
Little did I think I came to see a beloved brother die. 
But I thank God, that since it was to be, I was permit- 
ted to be present ; and oh, I bless him that he gave 
me hope in the death of my brother. We prayed that 
if he might not be spared to us, he might, nevertheless, 
leave some testimony behind, that all was well with 
him; and scarcely had we ceased praying, when in 
conversation with me, he expressed his hope in Christ, 
and the preciousness of the Saviour to him, and how 
wretched he would be at such a time, without a hope 
in Christ; and he said substantially the same to Rufus. 
Was not this in answer to our prayer 1 Do we deceive 
ourselves in thinking so 1 It comforts me too, to learn 
from various sources, that his mind had been, for 
many months before, exercised on the subject of reli- 
gion. Thanks be to God, therefore, that I sorrow not 
for him as one without hope. God forgive all my 
unfaithfulness to this dear brother. Alas, my dear 
brother, my beloved Richard, art thou gone ! Oh my 
brother, I sometimes, in the multitude of other thoughts, 
for a while forget thee, but when the remembrance of 
thee returns, my heart can bleed afresh for thee ! Oh 
Richard, thou wast the brother next to me, my com- 
panion, and thou art gone ! Thou stoodst beside me 
when I was married ! Oh Richard, would that I could 



28 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

now do something - for thee! but oh, I trust thou 
needest no human ministrations. I trust that through 
abundant mercy thou art with Jesus, who will never let 
thee want any thing. Oh God, let the remembrance 
of my brother ever keep me serious and tender. Blessed 
be God, that our dear babe, though brought very low, 
was raised up, and that William also, is spared to us. 
I never went away from home with so clear a con- 
science, and yet never has any visit been so interrupted 
by sickness and death. The Lord's will be done. 

" January 8, 1832. Oh that the glory of God may 
appear to me as alone worthy of being aimed at. For 
that may I live ; and when that will be most promoted 
by my death, may I be willing to die ! Oh how would 
earth sink in my esteem, if heaven were not so very 
dimly descried by me ; how different death Avould 
appear to me, if I regarded it as but the avenue to 
glory. Oh that I may find my supreme satisfaction in 
holy and divine things ! Oh that I may value and 
desire above all things else, communion with God. 

"January 10, 1832. Only two days ago, I was 
lamenting over my uselessness, and especially over the 
inefficacy of my sermons, and yet that very day, God 
had been blessing the short and hastily prepared dis- 
course I preached, to the few that came together in 
spite of the storm. I had passed a melancholy day 
to-day, and it was about closing in gloom, when a 
promising youth came in to talk with me, on the great 
concern of salvation, to which his attention had been 
remarkably called on the Sabbath. Oh the goodness of 
God to me, who am less than the least of his mercies : 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 29 

what an honor to be the instrument of awakening and 
savingly benefiting a soul ! Oh may the dear youth 
be taught and drawn of God. Then, indeed, he will 
come to Jesus, and my hope concerning him shall 
not be disappointed. 

"August 2, 1832. Sometimes I think I would like 
to send out a tract or a sermon, but I am arrested by 
the fear that I should not do it from a right motive. 

"August 28, 1832. The cholera is raging in the 
midst of us, but praised be God, I and mine are spared, 
not for our deserts, but for his great mercies. I feared 
that when 1 should be called to visit a subject of this 
disease, I should be appalled at the prospect ; but when 
the summons actually came, I was enabled to obey it 
without the smallest hesitation or trembling, and to 
determine at once to comply with every similar call in 
future, the which I have been aided to do. God gives 
his servants grace just when they want it; not in 
anticipation of their necessities. When I think of 
dying, I feel, if not an unpreparedness, yet an unwil- 
lingness to leave the world now, and an inability to 
exclaim, 'Oh death, where is thy sting'?' but I trust it 
would not be so, were I actually called to die. I am 
persuaded there is nothing which the grace of God 
cannot do for me. 

"November 20, 1832. On the 26th of September, 
I was taken ill of a bilious fever, by which I have been 
laid aside until now, and from which, I have not yet 
entirely recovered. What thanks do I not owe to my 
preserving God, that he spared me when so many 

others were taken ! How gracious was he, when the 

3* 



30 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

pangs were upon me! But now, that they are re- 
moved, how soon I forget God ! I am afraid my 
sickness has not been sanctified to me. I find the 
same wicked heart in me as ever. Oh how sinfully I 
live from day to-day ! How I suffer little matters to dis- 
turb my peace and ruffle my temper, and lead me into 
sin ! How the very minutiae of this world affect me ! 
I am ashamed of the petty cares and anxieties of which 
I am the subject. I am careful and troubled about 
many things, and so neglect the one thing needful ; 
and then how many fears I have, unworthy of a 
christian. Oh for that perfect love which casts out 
fear; oh, to know that I am one to whom the gracious 
God says, ' fear thou not, for I am with thee ; I am 
thy God.' 

"July 3, 1833. I would to-day renew the dedica- 
tion of my dear children to God. Lord they are thine; 
I give them to thee ; let them be thine. Let me not be 
such a parent to them as Eli was. I am very much in 
danger of erring on the side of indulgence. 

"July 9, 1833. I have been reading Baxter on our 
unreasonable unwillingness to die, that we may possess 
the saint's rest. Oh that God would make me willing 
to do and suffer all his will, just because it is his will. 
Oh that he would deliver me from all fear of death. 
His grace is sufficient, and his word is given, and his 
promise is sure. I will trust him and not be afraid. 
I shall not be left. He will not disappoint my con- 
fidence in him. 

"August 15, 1833. I have heard that God has 
already blessed my Tract. Can it be 1 Blessed be his 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 31 

gracious name ! May I remember, as I taught last 
night, that the kind with which I have to do, goeth not 
forth but by prayer and fasting. 

"August 17, 1S33. I have about me a dread of 
disease and death, such as I was not wont to have 
before the pestilence came, and which is very unbe- 
coming a Christian. Oh to be delivered from it. Oh 
for that love which casts out fear. 

"September 9, 1833. I should bless God for all I 
have which is above hell. Oh, that he would touch 
my heart with gratitude, and fill my soul to overflowing 
with love. 

"September 13, 1833. I cannot bear the idea of 
living along from day to day, unprofitably to myself 
and others, without making any progress in personal 
holiness, and without benefiting the souls of others. I 
desire this day to live usefully — to do something for the 
glory of God and the good of man, and I resolve that 
with the Lord's help I will. 

"September 26, 1833. I would not let this day 
pass, without noting it as the anniversary of my sick- 
ness. This day, one year, I was attacked by that 
illness, which brought me nearer the grave than I ever 
was before. But God mercifully spared me, and has 
lengthened out my term, while he has cut short that 
of others. Poor brother Fullerton is taken in the dawn- 
ing of life and usefulness. 

"December 21, 1833. I thank the Lord for that 
calm and even and happy state of mind in which I 
have been for the last few days. May he continue and 
increase my peace, making it like a river, flowing in a 



32 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

constant, gentle and unrippled current, increasing daily 
in extent and depth, until it shall reach the intermina- 
ble ocean of serenity. I feel as if God will revive us. 
Oh may he not be offended by any act or omission. 
May none of us grieve the good Spirit of the Lord. 

"January 30, 1834. Nothing gives me more pain 
than the fear that I am living to no purpose, neither 
growing in grace myself, nor promoting the salvation 
of others. Oh God, let it not be so. Make me useful. 
Let me not live in vain. 

" I desire to have these several things, viz. 

" 1. In all I do, a single eye to the glory of God. 

" 2. A uniform and deep sense of my entire depen- 
dant on God, especially for the success of my ministry. 

" 3. I desire to feel continually the sweet and 
powerful constraining of a Saviour's love. I would 
feel him to be ever and very precious to me. 

" 4. I would endure as seeing him who is invisible. 
I would feel continually, ' Thou God seest me.' 

"5. I desire to be delivered from all sin. I would 
be a partaker of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. 
I would be sincere, upright, true. 

" 6. I desire to be able to say, ' Whom have I in 
heaven but thee 1 ? and there is none on earth I desire 
besides thee.' Oh to have such a love for God and 
such a delight in him. 

" 7. I desire to be willing to die, whenever the Lord 
wills to take me. I want to be weaned from this world 
before I am taken from it. I would not be driven away. 
I would go willingly. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 33 

"8. I desire to have no will of my own in any 
thing, but to say and feel always, ' Thy will be done.' 

"February 3, 1834. The Lord helped me to preach 
yesterday, and I hope he blessed the word. He does 
not allow planting and watering in the natural world, 
without following it with an appropriate increase, and 
will he in the moral world 1 Shall his word be the 
only seed that does not produce % Shall it be for ever 
buried in the soil where it is sown 1 

" Oh that he would teach me how to preach, and 
then bless his word declared after his own manner. I 
long to be useful. While such multitudes are pulling 
down, may I build up. 1 choose for my motto this, ' To 
me to live is Christ.' 

"February 4, 1834. Oh to be like Christ. I would 
be satisfied with nothing short of this — to be meek, 
forbearing, forgiving, gentle, patient, submissive as he 
was. This is the standard which I should and would 
set up before me. How easily we satisfy ourselves 
that we are Christians ! 

"February 23, 1834. Oh that God would produce 
in me and in my people a sense of dependance on him ; 
until which, religion cannot nourish among us. I 
desire to feel a deep, habitual, humble sense of depen- 
dance entire on God; thereby honoring him as the 
source of all good and the author of all success. I 
would precede, attend and follow every thing with 
prayer for the divine blessing. No word which proceeds 
out of my mouth, nor any production of my pen, can 
effect any thing without God. I would always give 
him the glory — the undivided glory. Will he very 



34 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

graciously deign to bless what I have published] As 
an act of condescension and compassion will he do it 1 
Whenever I take my pen to write either for the pulpit 
or the press, may I fix my eye on God, and may his 
glory be my object. Lord grant it. 

"May 3, 1834. I returned yesterday from Philadel- 
phia and New York, where, for three or four weeks, I 
have been for my health, which has failed me. The 
Lord has laid me aside from his active service, for how 
long I know not ; whether altogether, he knows. May 
his will be mine, and may they not merely accidentally 
coincide, but may his will be mine because it is his. 
On the first of May, in Philadelphia, I wrote as follows : 
O Lord, let me have now, though all unworthy, a little 
sweet communion with thee : canst thou, with all 
thy care of worlds, attend to me ] Thou canst, for 
even worlds are no cares to thee ! And wilt thou 1 
Wilt thou so condescend, not merely to such littleness, 
but to such guilt 1 O how unworthy I am of what I 
ask ! I am convinced that no one is more unworthy 
than I am. How can any one be more unworthy 1 If 
mercy were any thing merited, I should be sure of 
never receiving it. Oh how I spoil my actions by my 
motives ! My heart is not right even when my conduct 
is. Oh thou who ponderests hearts and weighest 
spirits, sanctify my motives. Make them such as thou 
wouldst have them. 

"May 6, 1834. I ask not, O Lord, that thy will 
may coincide with mine, but mine with thine. I 
am only in a very subordinate sense in the hands of 
physicians and other advisers. I am in the Lord's 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 35 

hands. There I ought to be. There may I delight to 
be. O for confidence. 

"May 13, 1834. Will the Lord deign to restore my 
voice to me, and to allow me once more to preach 
Jesus 1 I am not needed ; and I am unworthy. But 
many such he employs. I shall esteem it a great favor. 
I shall praise him forever for it. I am too fond of life 
and this world. Oh, I am too unwilling to die. I 
cannot say to death, 'Where is thy sting'?' I would be 
weaned from earth and time. I would desire to depart 
and be with Christ. I would see and feel that to be 
far better. Oh for sweet and complete submission to 
the divine will. 

"May 20, 1834. Will the Lord dictate the means I 
should employ for the recovery of my health, and then 
bless those means. O may I love Jesus more before I 
preach him again, and have a clearer and more satis- 
factory experience of the work of grace on my own 
heart, that out of the abundance of the heart, my 
mouth may henceforth speak to sinners. I would be 
careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer, &c. 
Phil, iv, .6. Then I shall enjoy that peace of God, 
which passeth all understanding. 

"May 24, 1834. How I am held in bondage by the 
fear of death ! O that Christ would deliver me ! It 
was one great purpose of his death, to deliver those 
who, through fear of death are, all their lifetime, 
subject to bondage. Strange that I should be afraid 
and unwilling to go to my Father, to my Saviour, to my 
home and inheritance. Ah, it is because of unbelief. 
Last night I waked up with a pain in my breast, and 



36 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

how unduly it alarmed me — how unmanly, above all, 
how unchristian are my fears ! O that God would say 
to me, ' fear thou not, for I am with thee ; be not dis- 
mayed, for I am thy God,' — that he would speak these 
words to my heart. O, I needed this affliction, and I 
ought not to desire its removal until it has answered 
the purpose for which it was sent. I have been an 
unfaithful minister. I wonder God should have borne 
with me so long. Wonderful is the patience of God ! 
To reflect on it, will be among the employments of 
eternity ; — to contemplate and admire the long-suffer- 
ing and forbearance of God ! How slow he is to anger ! 
" My throat affection seems not so well for the last 
few days. But let not this distress me. I am in the 
best hands — in hands divine — in the very hands that 
were pierced for me, and from which no foreign 
power can pluck me. If I die, yet dying is not going 
out of those hands, or if it is, it is going from the hands 
to the bosom of God, — a gainful and blessed exchange. 
Will the Lord dictate what means I shall use for re- 
covery, and bless those means, else the most wisely 
adapted will be of no avail. 

"May 27, 1834. What would become of me but for 
grace ! O rejoice and praise God that there is such a 
thing as grace, and that it is free, rich, abundant, and 
adapted to all circumstances and cases. 

"June 1, 1834. Again, as last Sunday, I am de- 
tained from the house of God, and it is now more than 
two months since I preached. The Lord has some 
object in this affliction. May I not defeat it. O 
how strange it seems to me to have no voice to preach 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 37 

of Jesus. Shall I never again be permitted to tell 
sinners of him'? Will the Lord counsel me in regard 
to going to Norfolk to-morrow. Let thy will be done. 

Lord, thou canst make me well, and thou canst 
make me holy ; speak but the word, and I shall be 
whole both in body and in soul. Thou art the phy- 
sician of both. Thou alone canst mend thy own 
work. O for the privilege of preaching the gospel 
again ! Lord sanctify this affliction to me. Help me to 
cast my burden on thee, and to make the best of every 
thing. 

"June 4, 1834. I am at Norfolk for the benefit of 
my health. How vain are all means without God's 
blessing ! And what slight remedies prove successful 
in his hands ! May he bless the retirement this visit 
affords me to my soul ! Ah, this is what is most out of 
order. I ask -for health, but for grace I cry. Lord, 
hear my cry. I cannot move along without grace. 
Grace I ask, to be, and do, and suffer all thou wilt have 
me to. If Christ has no more work for me to do, how 
little he lets me off with ; for how very little I have 
done for him. I have not been laborious for my 
Saviour ; and much that I have seemed to do for him, 

1 have reason to fear has been done for myself. Why 
should I not be willing to be released from further 
labor, if the Lord has no more for me to do. O, why so 
very reluctant to depart and be with Christ. Will the 
Lord be my wisdom and strength to-day. 

"June 20, 1834. I am in New York again for my 
health. I bless the Lord that I seem to be getting 
better. May he bless this absence to me, and send 



38 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OP 

me home soon to preach the gospel, feeling as I have 
never felt before, how great a privilege it is. Oh what 
a favor ! what an honor ! — to be permitted to preach 
Jesus to poor dying sinners. So far are the most labo- 
rious and faithful ministers from laying God under 
obligation to them, that he lays them under unspeak- 
ably great obligations to him by allowing them to labor 
in his vineyard. So I feel, O thank the Lord. 

" I am in quest of health. How much more important 
to < follow holiness !' I hope I desire the latter, the 
rather of the two— holiness, conformity, moral con- 
formity to God, submission to his holy will. 

"July 9, 1834. I am a second time at West Point. 
I trust the Lord orders all my movements, since I com- 
mit my way to him. I resolved that this intensely hot 
day should not be a lost day, as yesterday seemed to 
be. God help that it may not be. To-day may I have 
sweet converse with God, and grow in grace ripening 
for heaven. I have been meditating with some comfort 
on those divine words, < accepted in the beloved.' It is 
sweet to be accepted of God on any grounds ; but to be 
accepted in his own beloved Son, sweeter far. Also on 
this passage, ' our citizenship is in heaven.' As truly 
as I am a citizen of Baltimore, I am of heaven, and 
how much superior the latter privilege ! I want to be 
able to use the confident language which I read in 
2 Cor. v, 1, and onward. 

"July 11, 1834. I must record it to the praise and 
glory of God, that I feel better to-day than I have felt 
since I was taken sick. May I increase in holiness 
more rapidly than in health, being strengthened in 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 39 

the inner as well as outer man. O that God would 
give me the ' earnest of the Spirit,' that I also may be 
always confident, that in being absent from the body I 
shall be present with the Lord. I am persuaded God 
will be my counsellor. 

"July 20, 1834. I appear now to be getting well, 
and I hope soon to exercise the privilege of preaching. 
May I not be impatient. 

"August 18, 1834. At Salt Sulphur Springs, 
whither the Lord has brought me. How much reason 
I have to trust him, derived from my own particular 
history. I admire his forbearance towards such a rebel 
as I. I desire, if I know my own heart, conformity to 
his image,, and submission to his will. Oh that he 
would deliver me from all my sins and from all my un- 
christian fears ; and may I be able to say with another, 
'■ What time I am afraid, I will trust in the Lord.' 

"September 10, 1834. This day week, I reached 
home and found all well. Thanks to the Lord. He 
disappoints all my fears. He realizes all my hopes. 
How highly favored are we : — our city healthy, our 
family well, and I improving. 

"September 14, 1834. To-day I have enjoyed 
another communion season with my people. My 
health is manifestly improving. I owe it to the good- 
ness of the Lord. My soul, forget not all his benefits. I 
have been enabled to pray with my people, and even 
briefly to address them, without injury to myself, and 
I trust, with satisfaction to them. I wonder my dear 
people should love me as they seem to. I feel unwor- 



40 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

thy of such devoted affection. I thank the Lord that 
he has put it into their hearts to love me. 

"October 21, 1834. Through mercy, I am nearly 
well. Oh that my soul were in higher health and 
prosperity ! Oh that 1 were a meek and lowly Chris- 
tian !— like Christ ! I pray to be preserved from pride : 
how odious to man is pride ; how much more hateful 
to God it must be ! Save me from presumption, and 
from taking to myself what is due to God. May I 
habitually and deeply feel, that I am and can do 
nothing good without God. 

"November 9, 1834. Last night, at a quarter be- 
fore twelve o'clock, the desire of my eyes, my beloved 
wife was taken from me to God. He took her. I had 
often consecrated her to him. And he but claimed 
his right. He took her, and took her, I believe, to 
himself ; and now, but for God, I should be desolate 
indeed. I record it to his praise that, during her sick- 
ness, which commenced on Friday evening, and even 
until now, I think I have had much of his presence, 
and have been supported by him. Surely grace is 
a reality, a precious and glorious reality! I have 
found it so the last two days ; and I bless God, that I 
have had some evidence that I do love him. I have 
tried to honor him under this trial, and think I have 
been enabled to do so. I bless his name, that I 
have been kept from all murmuring and complaining. 
Though my heart has bled, it has not rebelled. 

" I thank the Lord for all I have to comfort me in 
her death. I began early to ask her questions, and 
was always satisfactorily answered. She said she did 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 41 

love Jesus, and trusted she was going- to him. She 
prayed sweetly that God would take her to himself, 
not because of any worthiness in her, but alone through 
the merits of Christ. She spoke much of her unwor- 
thiness and of her wanderings from God. She felt 
that her walk had been very unworthy, and that 
through mercy alone she could be saved. She asked 
once to have a hymn sung, and when I asked what 
hymn, she said that about crossing over Jordan, which 
one of our sister sung. She uniformly expressed 
resignation to the will of God, though she would fain 
have lived longer had it been his will. She said she 
had always expected that the prospect of death would 
almost frighten her out of existence, but now she saw 
no terror in death, and she trusted it was grace that 
took away that dread. Oh, I trust it is all well with 
her. Only Friday afternoon, I made a renewed and 
special consecration of her unto God, and my prayer 
for her has always been, first sanctify her for thyself, 
and only secondarily have I prayed, spare her to me. 
That she might love Jesus more than me, I have 
always desired, and often have expressed to her that 
desire. That prayer, I believe has been heard, though 
as she said, she loved him not enough. When I asked 
her if her reliance was on him, she said, ' Yes, entirdxj.'' 
"November 10, 1834. To-day the separation is 
complete. The precious body which retained its sweet 
appearance and freedom from decay to the last, has 
been laid where it will remain until the resurrection 
morning, and I have come home to my desolate house. 
The light and charm of it is gone for ever from it. Oh, 
4* 



42 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

wtot a sweet home she made it to me I Oh, how she 
oved me and her deaf children i But I must uot think 
o much of he, Oh, that God would *-£££ 
me now, and enable me to make that use of tins dtspen 
I that he would have me. May he preserve me 
from every murmuring thought and word I am 
mpted sometimes to think hard of it that I have been 
Zd.aU with, but God helps me to repel the temp*- 
L The thought that she should be a vtctmr of th 
pest.lence-that she should d,e by thts new ^ form rf 
death, troubles me. But some of the swee est Ch s 
tians and holiest servants of God have dted of L Then 
, sometimes think, how strange that she should b^one 
of the few victims in this plaee. But why not she as 
well as any other, Why should the mother o my 
children be exempted more than another mo her 1 I 
^ntl feel that God has done tt-done it tn love and 
for my good and the good of others. 

■Novembee IS, 1854 Twelve years ago to-day 
we were married. How different a day that from h, s 
But God can make even this brighter than that 
Lst my dear wife is happier to-day than she was th, 
day twelve years. And why should • "ot be 1 = 
i/flod to-day than I was in her that day t wonder 
if she remembers this anniversary. Oh that had 
been a better husband to her! But God, I trus has 
forgiven us all. I feel in that way to-day, hat rf God 
should withdraw himself in any measure, I know not 
what would become of me. , 

« November 14, 1334 I want to rejoice as much m 
the prospect of returning health to this city, and m the 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 43 

recovery of others, as if my dear wife had been spared. 
Make me willing to be alone in affliction, if that is 
thy will. I want to rejoice in God in existing and 
reigning. I want to rejoice that he is. all he is, and 
that he does all he does. I rejoiced in a creature. I 
desire now to rejoice in my Creator — to rejoice in Christ 
Jesus, and in the prospect of the heavenly inheritance. 
Oh, to be greatly interested also in the salvation of 
souls ! May I labor and agonize for them. Oh, the 
pangs I feel — the tears I shed — the burden I bear. 
But I will not call it a cruel lot — a hard case. God 
is incapable of injustice, or of unkindness. I must 
patiently await the issue. 'Oh, who so wise to choose 
our lot and regulate our ways !' If my grief were ten- 
fold greater than it is, yet God would be just and good. 
There is nothing in his nature moving him to treat me 
unkindly, and certainly nothing external to him tempt- 
ing him to such an act. I believe that God is, and that 
he is possessed of all possible perfection ; that he could 
not be wiser or better than he is ; that he reigns 
and ought to reign. I am glad he does reign. Who 
else is qualified to reign 1 I believe his will, as it is 
preceptive, ought to be done, and as it is providential, 
ought to be submitted to, willingly and cheerfully by 
all his creatures. I believe that he is to be praised for 
all he does, and not merely for a part; when he denies, 
as well as when he bestows ; when he taketh away, 
equally as when he gives ; for, what he takes away, he 
originally gave, and the benevolence which led him to 
give it, would have prompted him to continue it, had 
there not been some good reason for withdrawing it. 



44 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

I believe that God has removed my dear wife from me ; 
that it was his will the separation should take place 
now ; and I believe I ought to be entirely submissive, 
and that in so far as I am not, I grievously sin. I 
acknowledge that I both deserved and needed such an 
affliction, and I have not the slightest reason to com- 
plain of God. I acknowledge that I am still in posses- 
sion of ten thousand favors from his hands, and that 
my debt of gratitude to him is past all computation. 
Where and what would I have been now, but for his 
compassion and forbearance? How entirely without 
ease and without hope ! Should a creature, treated so 
much better than he deserves, complain of his benefac- 
tor ? Shall I forget the twelve years of sweet union — 
the four dear lovely children he has given me? Shall I 
forget the calm and comfortable manner of her death, 
and the kind sympathy that has been felt and expressed 
for me ? Shall I forget his not sparing his own Son, but 
delivering him for us all — the innocent for the guilty. 
Has he bereaved me ? Did he not also bereave himself? 
Did he not interpose, when my dear wife was suffering? 
Neither did he, when his own dear Son was suffering. 
Shall I wonder that the cup did not pass from me, 
when a bitterer cup did not pass from Christ ? Oh, 
how we shall rejoice forever, that the cup did not pass 
from Jesus; and so may my whole family rejoice 
through eternity, that the cup passed not from our lips. 
But I feel keenly. So did Jesus. It was suffering 
none the less, that he submissively received it. 

"November 21, 1834. Just two weeks ago at this 
hour, my dear wife was out, taking her last walk in 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 45 

the streets of Baltimore. Oh, how the remembrance 
afflicts me. But if she is now walking the golden 
streets of the New Jerusalem, I ought to be satisfied. 
My tears flow profusely this morning. How can I bear 
this bereavement without grace'? 1 cannot — I never 
can. Oh for grace ! God can make up this loss. Oh 
that he would. He had a right to recall his loan. 
Why am I so reluctant to yield it up? He has only 
claimed his own property. It was his own creature he 
took. He had the best right to her. Oh, that I were 
not so much in love with earthly happiness ! Dear 
compassionate Saviour, have mercy on me, and keep me 
from grieving the blessed Comforter. 

"December 25, 1834. Oh, what a Christmas is 
this ! She, with whom I have spent twelve of these 
anniversary days, is no longer with me ! But I should, 
nevertheless, rejoice in the event which this day 
commemorates. If the death of my wife makes me 
sorrowful, let the birth of my Saviour make me joyful. 
Oh, where is Mary to-day 1 Beholding, I trust, the 
face of him who was born in Bethlehem. I am very 
unhappy ; more so, I think, than a Christian, under any 
circumstances, ought to be. My faith, it seems to me, 
was never weaker. 

"May 10, 1835. This day, one year, our last child 
was born. Poor dear babe, she had a mother not six 
months. For more than a week, I have been afflicted 
with an extraordinary lameness. The Lord give me 
patience." 



46 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

Extract from one of his letters : 

" Baltimore, September 3, 1833. 
* # * * « I have been thinking a good deal to-day of 
our dear departed Richard. His memory is as fresh on 
my heart, as on the day he died. I feel inexpressibly, 
whenever I indulge myself in thinking of him. The 
world seems less charming, and eternity more attract- 
ing, when I think of that dear brother gone thither. I 
should feel insupportably, but for the hope I have of 
his salvation through the blood of the Lamb. I can 
never forget that goodness of God which so ordered it 
that I should be with him in his disease. It seems 
strange that it should have been so. I love to think 
of that circumstance. * * * * Oh, when shall all I 
love be able to speak, as my dying brother did, of the 
Saviour, as exceedingly precious to the £01111" 

The following are some of Dr. Nevins' views respect- 
ing the cholera : 

"Baltimore, August 15, 1832. 
« A poor white man, whom I had known, (a drunk- 
ard) sent for me at eight o'clock, yesterday morning. 
He had been sick three or four hours. I saw, conver- 
sed and prayed with him. He died at one. It was an 
undoubted case of the pestilence. Very likely I may 
not be called to another while it continues here. I 
shall act prudently. My friends need not be at all 
alarmed about me. I trust that I have one who takes 
care of me when I am engaged in the dischage of my 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 47 

duty. If I can only maintain confidence in God, I 
shall feel secure. True, there is scarce a hope of 
benefiting a subject of the cholera, especially if he has 
been an intemperate man. But when a poor mortal, 
about to die, sends imploringly to a minister of Christ 
to come and see him, I think there is more danger in 
refusing than in complying with such a request." 

About the same time, Dr. Nevins addressed his 
people from the pulpit as follows : 

" There is a great deal of dying now. And it is 
apprehended by many that there will be more. Death 
is abroad. The insatiate archer has got a new arrow 
in his quiver, severer and sharper than any of the rest. 
A new terror clothes the brow of the king of terrors. 
The aged are sickening and dying, nor are the young 
men and maidens exempt. And it is appointed to us 
to die. We shall be sorry to part with any of you ; but 
if you must go, we cannot feel indifferent as to how and 
where you go. There is a direction we would have you 
take, and a conveyance we would have you employ. 
If you must leave earth, let it be for heaven. If you 
must go, go by the safe way and regard your company. 
There is but one safe way into eternity. There is only 
one rod and one staff that can comfort in death. It is 
not morality, nor philosophy, nor the poetry of Chris- 
tianity. And there is but one companion of the way, 
who can give the charm of society to death. You 
know his name. It is Jesus. Oh, that you did but 
trust in him ! Oh, if you only loved him ! Oh, would 



48 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

you but obey him I Oh, that you were not ashamed 
of him ! Into his hands I am willing to resign you." 

As early as January, 1831, he says in a letter to a 
friend: "I have not entirely got rid of the hacking 
cough I had. My palate is still a little too long." 

A distressing illness of a highly nervous character, 
just succeeding the prevalence of the cholera, doubtless 
sowed the seeds of his last sickness, though he thought 
otherwise. In his letters to his friends he often alludes 
to his health, and generally in a very interesting man- 
ner. The following are specimens : 

" New York, April 23, 1834. 
" It gives me much satisfaction to hear that I am the 
subject of so many prayers, and yet it alarms me to 
think that I should have had so many praying for me 
so long, and that the result should have been so little 
spiritual improvement in myself, and so little benefit 
through my instrumentality to others." 

" New York, June 21, 1834. 
" Health is a precious blessing, but it. is not the blessing 
of greatest price. Holiness is the inestimable pearl. 
What a wonderful book the Bible always is, but 
especially sometimes. How it speaks to the heart ! It 
seems to be all alive ! " 

Dr. Nevins' health, during the summer and autumn 
of 1834, considerably improved, as he thought; but it 
was perhaps no solid improvement. And in the 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 49 

autumn of that year, he was called to bury his beloved 
wife and her mother; — events which had no small 
influence over his mind, and perhaps health also. He 
preached his last sermon on the 1st of January, 1835. 
His text was in Micah vii, 18, " Who is a God like unto 
thee, that pardoneth iniquity ?" Shortly after this, he went 
to Philadelphia and New York, and thence to St. Croix. 
He returned in May, to New York, then to German- 
town, and finally to Baltimore. These journeyings and 
his thoughts and feelings are thus noticed in the fol- 
lowing pages : 

" Baltimore, November 12, 1834. 
" Oh, my dear friend and brother, may you long, 
long be spared the agony this heart has endured since 
I left the above sentence unfinished. I was writing in 
my parlor after tea on Friday evening, when a servant 
ran down to tell me that my beloved wife was very 
sick. It was the fatal cholera, and in a few hours she 
sunk, its exhausted victim, leaving me alone and all 
desolate but for God. Yet, though she sunk its victim, 
she was in death the victress, triumphing as she fell. 
I have great comfort in her death. But oh, the loss of 
parents, brothers, children, is nothing to it. And yet, 
though this trial be great, and of the kind the greatest, 
yet grace is greater, as I have found in my own recent 
and present experience. I have been buoyed up and 
supported, as only the everlasting arms can buoy up and 
support. God has been with me, and I have found no 
lack of sympathy in his love, no deficiency of strength 
in his omnipotence. Now I am prepared to say to 



50 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

every body, what God so often said to my unbelieving 
heart in vain : Fear not ; only trust in God. He can 
and will wonderfully carry you through all." 

" Baltimore, November 18, 1834. 
" The vacancy which the death of my dear wife has 
created in my affections, I would not have filled up 
with any thing human. May God himself, my glorious 
Creator, my merciful Redeemer, my Sanctifier, conde- 
scend to occupy it." 

" Baltimore, November 27, 1834. 
" Every day I feel more and more my incomparable 
loss. It seems to me, sometimes, as if I could not live 
under my sore bereavement. Oh, to think that I may 
live here thirty or forty years, and that in all that 
time, I shall never look on her sweet face again." 

" Baltimore, December 18, 1834. 

"Yesterday I wrote you a long letter and afterwards 
burned it. In it I said that we were all well, except Mrs. 
Key, who was gradually recovering. Now I can say, 
we are all well, for this afternoon at four o'clock, she 
joined Mary in the circle around the throne. It was 
quite unexpected to us. I knew not of her being 
worse, till eight or nine o'clock last night. Either she 
took cold or caught the prevailing influenza, which 
attacked her chest and produced effusion on the lungs. 
She was too enfeebled to bear bleeding, which other- 
wise would probably have relieved her. 

"Just forty days after my dear Mary left me, her 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 51 

mother followed. Two deaths in this house within six 
weeks ! What a new state of things ! I have seen 
not only the daughter but the mother die. I have 
heard the death groans of her that bore and nursed my 
Mary. It was enough for me that she was the mother 
of my all. She died not so easy as my dear one did; 
but I confidently believe that she has gone, through 
grace, to glory. They have met in heaven. * * * * I 
must have done with earth, and look away toward 
heaven." 

" Philadelphia, February 26, 1835. 
"How is my dear child whom I left sick, and my 
other babes 1 I did not know how much I loved them, 
till since I parted from them. If any of them should 
get sick, let me know, that I may come home and see 
them. Dear little creatures, motherless, and perhaps 
soon to be fatherless. I have been very desponding 
since I left them, but feel better now. They have 
ordered me now to a warm southern clime, Bermuda or 
Santa Croix. I wish my people would pray for me, 
and that my case would awaken the serious concern of 
the church. I think they have every prospect of losing 
me soon. Oh, that they would pray for me and my 
dear children. Oh, my dear children, how I love 
them, how I love them." 

"New York, March 10, 1835. 
" I received your letter, giving me an account of the 
day of prayer. It caused many tears of gratitude. 
God willing, I sail at eight o'clock to-morrow for St. 



52 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

Croix. The weather to-day is delightful, and hope 
it will be so to-morrow. Now good bye. Kiss my dear 
children for me. Oh, how I love them." 

St. Croix, March 30, 1835. 
" Is it possible 1 Can it be that I am here in the 
West Indies, while my dear children are so many hun- 
dred miles off? It is even so. Far away from all I 
love, and I feel it much at times. Sometimes so 
depressed, that I think we have seen each other for the 
last time on earth, and that my poor children will very 
soon be fatherless. But I recover myself, and try not to 
be careful for any thing, but to cast all my cares on 
God, and to rejoice that his will should be done. How 
refreshing a letter from Baltimore would be to-day. I 
long for some arrival to bring me one. Oh, where are 
my dear children, and how are they 1 I suppose dear 
William is in New York, and my sweet daughters at 
home. How I long to see them. I daily commit and 
consecrate them to God. That is all I can do. We 
had a comfortable voyage. I was sea-sick one day. 
I have not been benefited — cough increased, and much 
reduced — never was so miserable. But hope to gain 
flesh ; the climate is delightful — one day after another 
the same. It gives me great satisfaction that so many 
are praying for me. Give my special love to all. Oh, 
my friend, how strangely, yet wisely and justly, has 
the Lord dealt with me of late. Oh, November 7th, 
morning, how fair the prospect ! Now, how sad the 
retrospect. I think much of my beloved Mary. Ah, 
I have to restrain my thoughts often, they are attended 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 53 

with so much emotion. To think of Mary, sweet Mary, 
is to feel, and my poor frame won't bear the feeling 
now. Do remind my children of her, I do not want 
they should ever forget their mother, their precious 
mother." 

" St. Croix, April 20, 1835. 

" Yesterday was the sabbath, yet how different my 

sabbath from yours ! Yesterday was the first sabbath 

they have had English preaching since I have been 

here. On this holy day, I have been compelled to 

listen to the incessant chatter of the numerous blacks 

who throng the streets, and who make it a day of sport 

and noise. Oh, what a world is this ! How much of it 

is still subject to Satan. How few of all mankind seem 

to have any fitness for heaven or any knowledge of 

Christ 1 How thankful we ought to be that we are 

not poor ignorant slaves ! Oh, how pleasant it is for 

me to think that I am prayed for by so many children 

of God; and yet, I sometimes feel, why should they 

waste their prayers on me 1 Let them rather pray for 

Zion— ' thy kingdom come.' When you pray for me, 

always also pray for the church, the world. I have 

improved some in health, but not as rapidly as was 

expected. I have still three or four weeks to stay, and 

the returning voyage may be more salutary. Oh, I 

have infinitely more consolation than I deserve. The 

cup passed not from him whom the Father heard 

always, and God never so unveils himself as in seasons 

of distress. I want to feel that nothing essential is 

altered by my afflictions. I hope my letters will all 
5* 



54 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

be received — have written several. Love to all my 
dear people ; to the sick say, the Lord is the great 
physician, and if he does not restore us to health in this 
life, he will cure us of all ills by death. Tell those 
who say I am dear to them, they must try and get 
weaned from me, as it is so uncertain whether we ever 
have any more intercourse on earth ; tell them they 
must find another object for their hearts to fix on ; or 
rather tell them to transfer whatever affection they feel 
for their unworthy pastor, to ' Him who is altogether 
lovely.' Oh, that he were more precious to us all. He 
is worthy." 

" St. Croix, May 4, 1835. 
" I am anxious to get home. Yet I can hardly feel 
that Baltimore is home any longer. Yet I wish my poor 
body to lie and rest there till the resurrection. I think 
I shall not be much longer with you. I may be mis- 
taken. The Lord will direct." 

" St. Croix, May 8, 1835. 
" Six months to-day, since ray sweet love exchanged 
earth for heaven. Oh, my friend, have you thought of 
it? I know you loved her ardently. Oh, how I suffer, 
yet not more than I deserve. The wound is fresh as 
ever ; it will never heal. Why should it 1 I did not 
know before, that death could make such desolation." 

" Germanlown, July 15, 1835. 
" I find I am not improving, but growing weaker. I 
hope it may please the Lord to let me live along until 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 55 

I reach Baltimore. Oh, I want to be once more in that 
house where my darling Mary died. You have no idea 
how sick I am ; and I feel that my poor miserable im- 
perfect work is nearly finished. Who ever served God 
worse 1 No one ; and Jesus never had so miserable a 
follower. Sometimes I think the good and great God 
may interpose and spare me a little longer, that I may 
serve him better, and do a little more for the one who 
died for me. His will be done." 

From Germantown he writes to a friend in Baltimore, 
under date of July 24, 1835 : 

" Thank you for your letter. You will not have to 
write much longer. Think I shall go to Baltimore 
next week. If I do not go soon, fear I shall not get 
there. Love to all, especially the afflicted. Oh, how 
I should love to comfort the mourners. Yet I fear I 
shall comfort no more. I want a comforter myself. 
Oh, for the Comforter to come and abide with me. Have 
often seasons of great distress ; then again, the prospect 
brightens, and I feel an assured hope that Jesus will 
prepare, even for me, a mansion in his Father's house; 
and if he calls me soon to take possession, why should 
we complain 1 ? 

After returning to Baltimore, Dr. Nevins wrote but 
little. But he said many things to his attendants, some 
of which may be usefully preserved. 

To one, who had often attempted to comfort him in 
former days, approaching his bed, he said, "Do not 



56 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

comfort me, you need not comfort me. God has com- 
forted me." At another time he said, " Oh, how I 
should like to write an article on being ' Accepted in 
the Beloved.' What a theme — 'Accepted in the Be- 
loved!' ' Accepted in the Beloved!'" Again he said, 
" Perhaps nothing has quieted my mind more frequently 
than those words in one of Newton's hymns : 

• His way was much rougher 
And darker than mine ; 
Did Jesus thus suffer, 
And shall I repine ? ' 

* He become obedient unto death, even the death of the 
cross.' What language — 'Obedient unto death, even 
the death of the cross.'" At another time he said, "I 
have had great comfort from the remark of a brother, 
made to me many months since, who said, 'It was im- 
possible for God's people to please him better in any 
way, than by trusting him.' I will trust him." 

To a brother in the ministry, he said, " I have sa- 
crificed my reputation as a preacher, that I might have 
time to visit the pom - , the sick and the dying. I cannot 
tell why I did it, unless my motive was pious." To 
another, he said, " I shall not be here long, my friend ; 
preach Christ — none but Christ — farewell ! May God 
bless you." To another, he said, " I would love to 
preach the gospel once more, but the Lord knows best." 
In his last sickness he read a good deal. He was 
much pleased with the life of Harlan Page, and men- 
tioned some coincidences in their respective experiences. 
On the morning of the 8th of September, 1835, he said, 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. SI 

u I see a beauty in submission to the will of God." And 
on the morning of the 9th, he said to one, " I suppose 
you have been told that I had a bad night, but it is a 
great mistake. It has been a glorious night, the most 

pleasant I ever had. Tell , if he only knew how 

much consolation religion affords me, even now, he 
would not for a moment delay embracing it." 

On the morning of the 10th, the American Board of 
Commissioners for Foreign Missions being in session in 
his church, he sent by a friend, his annual contribution, 
and sent for a ministerial brother, who was a member 
of the Board, to come to his room. On his friend's 
coming to him, he said, " There are one hundred dollars 
for the Board. It is, I suppose, the last, donation I shall 
ever make to the cause of Christ. If you see any suit- 
able way of saying it, I would like to have it known 
that the nearer I get to heaven, the dearer is the cause 
of missions to my heart." 

On the morning of the 13th, it was evident the time 
of his departure was drawing nigh. When a friend 
entered his room, he said, " I am near my home. Bless- 
ed Saviour ! Satan, I think, has tried to disturb me ; 
but I have looked at all the ground of my hope, and I 
find I am on a rock. Yes, I am going home" After 
this, for many hours, he said but little until after four 
o'clock in the afternoon, when reviving, he said, " Out 

of weakness, I testify that Jesus and his religion 

are sufficient. I should like to talk for the sake of you 
all. I feel weak, but I feel peace too. O Jesus, I 
choose thee, but thou first calledst me. I do not know 
that I shall be able to say any thing more." In a few 



58 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

minutes, his strength seemed to return, and he said, 
" Oh, there is one that says, * Fear not, I am with 
thee' — ' be not dismayed.' In that I confide. O, blessed 
Lord, thou hast said, * I will never forsake thee.' He 
does not make me to triumph exactly, but I have every 
disposition. 'O, to grace how great a debtor, — daily 
I'm constrained to be.' Repeat it, 'Jesus sought.'" 
Here his friend repeated, 

" Jesus sought me when a stranger, 
Wandering from the fold of God ; 
He, to rescue me from danger, 
Interposed his precious blood." 

" That will do," he said — " I mean his precious blood 
will do. — Yes, yes — Jesus is on the other side of Jor- 
dan — yes, and on this side too, and he will go with me 
through Jordan. The Lord's blessed will be done. 
That blessed heaven ! Rest — love to all that are 
absent. I recommend Christ to them. I have no other 
recommendation but Jesus. He has supported me all 
along for several weeks, and now see ! his grace is 
sufficient for me. ' One there is above all others,' — 
Sing it — O, sing it, or sing, « When I can read my title 
clear.'" One verse was sung. He became very calm, 
and at the close he said, "Thank the Lord for all his 
goodness to me." Here he sank into a slumber. At 
different times, during the night, he said, " O for grace 
to be patient." When told that he was patient — "Yes," 
said he, "but I would be patient, as a lamb." At 
another time, he said, " Precious Saviour, be with me 
even to the end. Won't it be sweet to fall right into 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 59 

the arms of Jesus V To another, he said, "Let 
patience have her perfect work. Through much tribu- 
lation ! — Through much tribulation!" Rousing up, he 
said, " I know not what you are about, but all I care 
thinking about is my precious Saviour : — dear Blessed 
One !" At eight o'clock, on the morning of the 14th, 
he said, "'Come my soul, thy suit prepare.' Go on." 
The hymn book was brought, and being asked if we 
should sing or read, he said, read. The first verse was 
read: 

"Come my soul thy suit prepare, 
Jesus loves to answer prayer ; 
He himself has bid thee pray, 
Rise and ask. without delay." 

When finished, he said, " O yes, I ask for patience and 
help to the end. Go on." At the end of the second 
verse, which reads thus : 

"With my burden, I begin, 
Lord ! remove this load of sin ! 
Let thy blood for sinners spilt, 
Set my conscience free from guilt." 

He said, " Yes — yes — the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses 
from all sin." At the end of the third verse, 

"Lord! I come to thee for rest: 
Take possession of my breast, 
Here thy sovereign right maintain, 
And without a rival reign." 

He said, "Yes, Lord, begin thy reign whenever thou 



60 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

choosest, and continue it for ever." At the close of the 
fourth verse, 

" Show me what I have to do, 
Every hour my strength renew, 
Let me live a life of faith, 
Let me die thy people's death." 

He added, "Lord, thou seest what poor creatures we all 
are. Bless us all and strengthen us. Dear Saviour, 
thou givest me some suffering, but nothing compared to 
what many saints and thyself suffered." About five 
o'clock, on Monday, he asked to be raised up, and said, 
" Death — death, now, come Lord Jesus — dear Saviour." 
In a few minutes, his spirit was gone. It is confidently 
believed that " he fell right into the arms of Jesus," in 
whom he sleeps until the morning of the resurrection. 
He lacked twenty-nine days of being thirty-nine years 
old. His remains are interred in the city of Baltimore. 

The following sketch of his character was drawn by 
Rev. Mr. Musgrave, who knew him well, and who, at 
the request of the officers of the First Church in Balti- 
more, preached the sermon on the occasion of their 
bereavement: 

"The talents and acquirements of Dr. Nevins 
were superior. His understanding was remarkably 
acute ; his imagination highly inventive ; his judg- 
ment proverbially solid, His reading was chiefly 
theological and practical ; owing, no doubt, to the 
multiplicity of pastoral and other public duties. Yet, 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. Gl 

occasionally he has been known to pursue scientific 
and literary subjects with evident satisfaction. 

" Our dear brother was pre-eminently distinguished 
for sincere piety. No man could hear him preach or 
pray, without being struck with his sincere and earnest 
devotion. There was that in his public performances, 
which made an immediate impression that he felt him- 
self what he uttered, and that he did most truly and 
earnestly desire the salvation of his hearers. It was 
the common remark of strangers, after hearing him for 
the first time, 'That is a sincere, — good man.' In 
private, I can bear witness to the habitual seriousness 
and spirituality of his mind. Often while with him, 
has he expressed the anxiety of his soul concerning the 
religious state of his people, and inquired with earnest- 
ness, ' What can be done to incite them to duty V 
Frequently also, would he unite with his ministerial 
brethren in social prayer ; and on such occasions, he 
manifested a spirit deeply imbued with the unction of 
the Holy One. In his yet more private and confiden- 
tial intercourse, it was evident that, through manifold 
temptations and fiery trials, he was deeply experienced 
in divine things, and was rapidly preparing to leave 
this world and enter upon his eternal reward. 

" Our brother was also distinguished for practical 

wisdom. He was slow, to commit himself on any 

subject or in any cause ; and would never act until he 

had made the most diligent and ample inquiry. The 

measures he employed were cautious, unexceptionable, 

and admirably adapted to secure his object. He was, 

therefore, a safe guide to others ; and avoided himself 
6 



OZ BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

many difficulties and indiscretions, which perplex and 
straiten the sanguine and visionary. During his pro- 
tracted labors among this people, such was the wisdom 
and prudence of his course, that he never excited 
any serious opposition to his measures, nor is known to 
have made a personal enemy. In truth, such was 
his reputation for prudence abroad, that in times of 
extreme suspicion and party strife, he always retained 
the confidence of his ministerial brethren, though he 
refused to take an active part in their ecclesiastical 
war. 

" Another trait in his character, closely allied to the 
former, was his amiability. His was truly an affec- 
tionate and peaceful spirit. Cherishing himself towards 
others a liberal and kind disposition, he could not 
endure the strife of public parties, or the bitterness 
of more private and personal disputes. I have known 
him frequently to be wounded, but never to be angry 
but once ; and then the provocation was outrageous ! 
Such was the tenderness of his feelings, that on a 
certain occasion, when an intimate friend complained 
of his neglect, he threw his arms around his neck and 
wept upon his bosom ! During his illness, he more 
than once observed, ' There are some men who will 
contend ; — I cannot contend ; — and the Lord is taking 
me from the evil to come.' To one of his brethren, he 
said, 'For the sake of the cause, — for Jesus's sake, 
bear and forbear. I know it will be difficult ; but 
suffer all things for Christ's sake.' He was answered, 
that it should be done, as far as conscience would 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 63 

allow. He replied, with emphasis, 'You will never 
regret it.' 

"Another distinguished trait in his character was 
humility. In all his public performances he was 
entirely destitute of every thing like vanity or self-com- 
placency ; and in his private conduct, he was remarka- 
bly unassuming and retiring. He never sought praise, 
and 'bore his honors meekly.' He rarely spoke of his 
public efforts, and appeared to underrate them. But 
what was yet more rare, he envied not the fame and 
usefulness of others, but seemed rather to be pleased 
with their advancement and success. So modest was 
he and diffident of his powers, that his friends have 
sometimes felt it a duty to urge him to efforts to 
which he had been invited from abroad, and to which 
he judged himself inadequate. After he had com- 
menced the publication of his Essays, he was unaffect- 
edly surprised at the attention which they immediately 
excited. In truth, Dr. Nevins was among the most 
unambitious and humble of men ; and when his talents 
and opportunities are contemplated, his modesty and 
humility appear pre-eminently conspicuous and ex- 
emplary. 

"Diligence and punctuality were also character- 
istic of our departed friend. He composed during his 
ministry, between seven and eight hundred sermons, 
and many tracts and essays ; and sustained, besides, an 
extensive correspondence. In addition to these, his 
pastoral and other public labors were unusually abun- 
dant. Yet no duty was neglected, or tardily and 
imperfectly discharged. When he promised, he was 



64 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

sure to perform ; and his appointments, as to time, were 
met with scrupulous punctuality. In these respects, 
he was an invaluable member of our Ecclesiastical 
Courts, and of the Boards of management of our 
Benevolent Associations. 

"As a preacher, Dr. Nevins was sound, clear, 
practical, and eloquent. During the former part of his 
ministry, his sermons were of an imaginative and 
rhetorical order ; containing some of the most beauti- 
ful and fascinating illustrations and exhibitions of 
divine truth. During the latter part of his life, 
however, his discourses were more solid and practical : 
and multitudes will have cause to bless God for ever, 
that they were so. His style was simple, pure and 
cogent. The power of condensation he possessed in an 
eminent degree ; frequently expressing in a single 
sentence, what others would spread over pages. His 
manner was earnest, affectionate, solemn, and impres- 
sive; and when excited, he was often truly eloquent. 
Who among you have not been thrilled by some 
pungent interrogation? — or melted to tears* by his 
tender and earnest appeals ? 

"As a pastor, he was devoted, prudent, affection- 
ate, and successful. No man ever labored more inde- 
fatigably than he, to promote the spiritual improvement 
of his people. In the pulpit, and from house to house ; 
in season and out of season, he was constantly and 
laboriously employed in doing good. He wisely re- 
stricted his personal ministry chiefly to his own flock ; 
and perhaps there never was a people who enjoyed the 
labors of their pastor more constantly than his. He 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 65 

would sometimes playfully remark, ' There is no profit 
in robbing Peter to pay Paul ; — in neglecting one's own 
family to look after strangers ;' and in this, he was 
undoubtedly judicious. The progress of this congrega- 
tion in practical and spiritual religion, and the large 
accessions made to the number of communicants, 
furnish the most abundant and gratifying evidence that 
his labors were not in vain in the Lord. It is also 
interesting to state, that five or six individuals are 
either in the ministry or preparing for it, who ascribe 
their conversion, under God, to his labors. But while 
he must have rejoiced over every convert made through 
his instrumentality, how inexpressibly thankful and 
happy must he have been, when made instrumental in 
the conversion of his beloved and venerable father ! In 
his pastoral visits, our brother was specially attentive 
to the poor and the afflicted, and always ready to 
relieve their- temporal necessities, as far as was within 
his power, and to impart to them the richer consolations 
of the gospel. Towards the sick, he exhibited the 
greatest fidelity and sympathy ; endeavoring to con- 
vince the skeptical ; to alarm the careless ; to comfort 
and animate the desponding ; to prepare all to die in 
peace and in hope of eternal life. 

"As a writer, Dr. Nevins was superior ; and it is 
to be regretted that his modesty and pastoral duties 
would not allow him to publish more than he did 
during his life. Some of the premium Tracts which 
he prepared, are exceedingly valuable, and have 
already obtained a wide and useful circulation. The 

Practical Essays, which appeared originally in the 
6* 



66 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

New-York Observer, over the finals, m. s., are almost 
unrivalled, and have elicited universal admiration. 
The essays on the subject of Romanism, are likewise 
excellent, and have exerted a powerful and salutary- 
influence. It may not be known to all, that these 
essays were composed during his ill health ; and 
because, as he said, ' I wish to divert my mind from 
my afflictions, and I trust also to be useful in this way, 
while I am unable to preach.' 

"As a public man, in all his relations to the 
Judicatories of the Church, and to the various Be- 
nevolent Associations of the age, Dr. Nevins was 
invaluable. It is true, he never was an active party 
leader in our Ecclesiastical Courts, but he exerted, 
nevertheless, a most happy and useful influence. 
Sound in doctrine and in. practice, he had no sympathy 
with the idle speculations and innovations of the age. 
While on the other hand, he was equally opposed 
to the ultra measures and vindictive spirit of some, 
professedly contending for the truth. He preached the 
truth himself; sustained by his influence the orthodox 
institutions of the Church ; and always avowed his 
willingness, in a constitutional manner and in a 
Christian temper, to administer discipline when it was 
shown to be necessary. But he would not consent to 
make a man an offender for a word ; nor employ illegal 
or ultra measures for the correction of acknowledged 
evils ; much less would he pursue any one with 
personal and vulgar abuse. He was, in truth, particu- 
larly averse to the spirit of contention, and never, in the 
whole course of his life, engaged in controversy. Hia 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 67 

Essays on Romanism are not, in my judgment, an 
exception to this remark. It is true, he did expose many 
of the dogmas and superstitions of that sect, but he did 
not do it in a controversial form or with a disputatious 
spirit. I must not here be understood, as reflecting 
upon those who feel it to be their duty to enter into 
controversy ; it is often unavoidable ; and when con- 
ducted in a prudent manner and with a Christian 
spirit, it may be highly useful. But our brother did 
not regard himself as called to labor in this depart- 
ment ; and from his decided aversion to it, avoided it 
even when publicly assailed. 

" In his relations to the various Benevolent Associa- 
tions of the age, he was, as we have said, invaluable. 
He did not attract, by public declamation and parade, 
so much attention as some others, but he acted, instead 
of talking; and by his private influence and personal 
exertions contributed largely to their support and 
usefulness. He was prompt and faithful in discharging 
his share of their management ; and by his judicious 
counsel, and humble prayerful spirit, he greatly as- 
sisted in their direction. He was ever interested in 
their advancement. He was particularly interested in 
sending the gospel to the heathen ; and among the 
last acts of his life, was a liberal donation to the 
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- 
sions, of which he was a corporate member. The deep 
interest which he felt in the Monthly Concert of Prayer 
for the conversion of the world, is known to you all ; 
and we pray God, that the recollection of it may long 
continue to produce its appropriate fruits. 



68 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OP 

"In his domestic and social relations, he was 
affectionate and constant. I will only say, that as a 
Husband and Father, he was all that would be expected 
from one so judicious, humble, and affectionate. He 
was slow and cautious in forming relations of friend- 
ship, but when once formed, they were cherished with 
constancy. No friend was ever more sincere and 
faithful. He made but few professions, and never 
indulged in heartless flatteries and promises ; but he 
did more than he promised, and proved the sincerity of 
his friendship, not by words, but by disinterested and 
generous acts. He was not so fascinating to strangers, 
as some others ; but, what was better, he improved upon 
acquaintance; and those who knew him longest and 
most intimately, prized his friendship the most highly. 

" That he had his imperfections will be readily 
admitted ; for he was a man of like passions and 
temptations with ourselves. But it may be said justly, 
that ■ they were in the strictest sense of the word 
imperfections, since they grew out of his natural temper- 
ament, and were not to be imputed to an obliquity of 
will or to a deficiency in the strength of his moral 
principle.'" 

Dr. Nevins' death was sincerely lamented by many 
out of the Church in which his immediate connexions 
lay. The Rev. John Johns, D. D., pastor of one of the 
Episcopal churches in Baltimore, on the first sabbath 
of the year succeeding Dr. Nevins' death, in preaching 
to his people a discourse founded upon Job xiv, 14, 
" All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 69 

change come," expressed himself in a manner honor- 
able both to the preacher and the deceased. By the 
kindness of Dr. Johns, so much of what he said as was 
then written is here inserted : 

"Whilst preaching to you, my brethren, on this 
solemn subject, I desire to remember that during the 
past year God has preached pointedly and powerfully 
to his ministering servants in this city. I mean by the 
mysterious and afflictive providence by which he has 
removed one of our number from the scene of his 
earthly labors. 

" If the devoted affection of his own people — the 
sincere regard of the Christian community — -peculiar 
preparation for his work, and the promise of extending 
and extraordinary usefulness, could have detained him 
here, others might have been taken, but he, I am per- 
suaded, would have been left. Few, very few, were so 
tenderly beloved ; so generally respected ; so admirably 
fitted for service, and so steadily abundant in the work 
of the Lord. To speak of him in terms similar to those 
which a prophet used, would be no unmerited commen- 
dation, ' The law of the Lord was in his mouth ; in his 
lips was no guile ; he walked with God in equity and 
truth, and turned many from iniquity.' But all this 
furnished no security against affliction, as the mournful 
history of his own interesting family most touchingly 
teaches us. Nor does it form a shield against the shaft 
of death, as we learn in his own lamented case : — 
' The days of his appointed time have been numbered — 
his change has come.' 



70 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

" Shall I sorrow over his removal 1 He was my early 
Christian friend, with whom I have studied and prayed 
and taken sweet counsel, at the very period of life so 
favorable for cementing hearts in genuine friendship. 
Since that period, for several years, our personal inter- 
course was much interrupted. We labored in different 
departments of the Christian enclosure, and were called 
by different names. But there was no abatement of 
early kindness — no loss of former confidence. 

" On my settlement in this city, as your pastor, I 
found him in the midst of his usefulness, ministering to 
Ihe large and respectable congregation, now mourning 
their recent bereavement. I numbered it among my 
privileges, that I was permitted to renew our former 
intercourse — to become his neighbor. And I here bear 
testimony, that he proved my more than neighbor — my 
generous, fond, affectionate brother. 

" For the removal of such a friend, I well might 
grieve. But when I consider his change, I dare sorrow 
no longer. What a change, my brethren ! Who but 
must covet ill He has passed from the field of his 
arduous labors to the place of perpetual repose. From 
the habitation, every room and every article of which, 
painfully reminded him of his own sore bereavements, 
to join those loved ones in his Father's mansions. 
From the midst of the various trials, inseparable from a 
faithful ministry, to the rich reward which forms its 
infallible recompense. From the conflicts of grace, to 
the triumphs of glory ! Yes, my friend and brother 
has fought the good fight and finished his course with 
joy. He has laid aside his helmet for a crown of 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 71 

righteousness, and received for the sword of faith, 
which he wielded so skilfully, the palm of victory. 
Heaven grant, that whilst his death warns us of the 
necessity of being always ready for our own change, 
his beautiful example may animate us to increased zeal 
and devotion in the great and good cause which has in 
his removal lost so able a minister." 

The following remarks on Dr. Nevins' character, are 
from the pen of Rev. Samuel Miller, D. D., Professor 
of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government, in 
the Theological Seminary at Princeton. They are, by 
permission, published : 

"You request me to give you my impressions respect- 
ing our beloved and lamented friend, the late Dr. 
Nevins, of Baltimore, as a Student, as a Preacher, as a 
Gentleman, and as a Christian. It is with mournful 
pleasure that I comply with your request ; for I have 
seldom cherished toward any man a warmer or more 
heartfelt affection ; and I know not that I was ever a 
more sincere mourner on the decease of any friend out 
of my own family, than on his. 

" My acquaintance with William Nevins, as a 
Student, commenced in November, 1816, when he 
entered our seminary, with testimonials of having 
graduated in Yale College, and of being, if I mistake 
not, a member of the Church in that institution. His 
appearance was rather more than usually juvenile, but 
polished, pleasant, and attractive ; and throughout his 
whole course, he was one of the most amiable, respect- 



72 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE O-F 

ful, and orderly students in the whole house. It was 
understood, that during the early part of his connexion 
with the college, he was entirely careless about divine 
things, and even somewhat disposed to be dissipated, 
but that in a revival of religion, of considerable extent 
and power in the college, he became decidedly pious. 
In adverting to the circumstances attending this inter- 
esting event, which he sometimes did to his intimate 
friends, he spoke of the conversation and preaching of 
the Rev. Asa Thurston, now one of the respected and 
beloved missionaries at the Sandwich Islands, as 
having been particularly blessed to his benefit. His 
application to study, while with us, was exemplary. It 
was not, indeed, of that peculiar and indefatigable 
character, which was manifested by some of his com- 
panions in study. Yet it may be said with truth, that 
he was a diligent student, and that he always appeared 
well at examinations. 

" To those who saw our young friend while he was 
in the seminary only occasionally, and in company, his 
seriousness did not appear to be very marked or deep. 
He exhibited at that time, perhaps more than in after 
life, great alternations of feeling. He was often most 
distressingly dyspeptic, and frequently manifested all 
that depression of spirits, which those who have had 
experience of that malady, in its more severe forms, 
know well how to appreciate At other times, his 
spirits might be said to be exuberant ; and, as it was 
much more frequently in the latter, than in the former 
state of mind, that he appeared in company, he was 
considered by most of those who knew him, to be rather 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 73 

remarkable for cheerfulness and vivacity. Those who 
knew him most intimately, however, knew that in 
retirement, he manifested habits which satisfied them 
that he was not only unfeignedly pious, but that his 
piety was considerably above the ordinary standard. 

" While Mr. Nevins was a member of the seminary, 
he was particularly distinguished for the taste and 
elegance of his compositions. They were highly 
rhetorical, imaginative, and ornate. He wrote poetry 
as well as prose, with very honorable success. When 
he pronounced any of his exercises in public, as our 
rules require, he always appeared well, and sometimes 
remarkably so. Several of these public exercises at the 
time, made a strong impression, and are still remem- 
bered with interest by some, at least, of those who 
heard them. 

" Our lamented friend, at the time of which I speak, 
manifested nothing of that spirit of laziness, vanity, or 
presumption, which has prompted hundreds of our 
pupils to withdraw prematurely from the studies of the 
seminary, and engage in the wor£' of the ministry, 
before they were half prepared for its arduous and 
responsible labors. He felt the need and importance 
of mature study; and went through the complete 
course prescribed in the institution, and received "its 
accustomed testimonial to that amount, toward the 
close of September, 1819. And, as the labors of the 
former class of students, have seldom failed to manifest, 
in a very striking and humiliating manner, their lack 
of the requisite furniture, so the subsequent labors of 
our beloved friend, showed that he had laid a solid 



74 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

foundation of theological and ecclesiastical, as well as 
of literary acquirement. 

" As a Preacher, Dr. Nevins greatly excelled. When 
he first commenced his labors as a minister of the 
gospel, he carried with him into the pulpit that love of 
rhetorical ornament, and that reign of imagination, 
which had distinguished his compositions in the sem- 
inary. And even for a short time after he became 
settled as a pastor, his sermons partook more of this 
character, than his more mature judgment and practice 
sanctioned. But even then, his pious ardor, his sound- 
ness in the faith, and his decidedly evangelical views, 
and strain of preaching, evinced that he was really a 
devoted and faithful servant. 

" When he had been four or five years in the min- 
istry, it pleased God to bless his labors in a remarkable 
manner. His church experienced, what, I believe it 
had never before known, a precious revival of religion, 
in which a large addition was made to the members of 
his church, and a change decisively for the better in 
the whole aspect of his congregation. He himself 
received a new \mction. His preaching became more 
solemn, direct, pointed, and richly evangelical — more 
adapted at once to awaken the careless, and to edify 
the pious. 

" During the last seven or eight years of his life, I 
considered Dr. Nevins as among the very best preachers 
in the United States. His sermons were sufficiently 
ornate and elegant to satisfy the most delicate taste ; 
simple, perspicuous, and plain, without being common 
place ; rich in sentiment and doctrine, and delivered 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 75 

with an animation, a force, and a striking earnestness, 
adapted to recommend them to every class of hearers. 
You are, no doubt, aware that he was a memoriter 
preacher ; and on the whole, the most natural and 
impressive memoriter preacher I ever heard. He 
seemed to commit to memory with great ease, and to 
call forth and deliver what he had deposited in his 
memory, without the least hesitation or embarrassment. 
Most of the memoriter preachers that I have heard, 
had a formal reciting manner. In him scarcely any 
thing of this kind appeared. His intonations and his 
whole manner were entirely natural. He might easily 
have been mistaken for an extemporaneous speaker, 
had not the richness, the connexion, and the mature 
judgment and taste which his discourses seldom failed 
to display, evinced careful preparation. 

"As. a Gentleman, Dr. Nevins was highly exemplary. 
He had, indeed, nothing of the splendor, or courtly 
formality of fashionable manners. His deportment in 
company, though polished and respectful, was as 
simple, easy, unaffected, and unassuming as possible. 
He had about him as much of what the French call 
naiveti, as I almost ever saw in a man so serious and 
dignified as he habitually was. He had, indeed, in his 
common manners, the simplicity of a child, which 
exerted a very winning influence among his associates. 
One of the most decisive tests of the character of a 
Christian gentleman, is a capacity to appear well and 
respectably in any company, from the highest to the 
lowest. When brought, to this test, no one who knew 
our lamented friend, would consider him as likely to 



76* BIOGRAPHICAL, NOTICE OF 

be found wanting. His knowledge of the world, his 
gentleness, his respectfulness, and his benevolence, 
were a passport in all society. 

" In contemplating the character of Dr. Nevins as a 
Christian, you will readily perceive, from what I have 
before stated, that I regard him as having occupied a 
high place. His growth in grace, after he left us, and 
after he was clothed with the ministerial office, was not 
only distinctly perceptible, but very striking. The 
circumstances of my being called upon, at his request, 
to preach the usual sermon at his ordination, led to an 
intercourse somewhat special between him and myself. 
I was repeatedly with him in Baltimore ; and he gen- 
erally made my house his home, during his frequent 
visits to Princeton, so that I had no small opportunity 
of observing his spirit and conversation ; and I can 
truly say, that every successive time I saw him, or 
heard him preach, he appeared to me to have made 
sensible progress in wisdom, zeal, fidelity, and devoted- 
ness. His conversation, his prayers, his plans, and his 
most unguarded sallies of thought or feeling, were 
those of a man who made the advancement of the 
Redeemer's kingdom the great object of his pursuit. 

" The closing scene of his life, as I learned from those 
who were with him, — for it was in my power to see 
him but once during his last illness, and that for a few 
moments only, — was in harmony with all his preceding 
evidences of piety, or rather bore a testimony in favor 
of his piety, more bright and animating than ever. On 
this, however, I will not enlarge, as you were with him 
during a number of his last days, and had every oppor- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 77 

tunity of witnessing the patience, the concern for the 
kingdom of Christ, and the joyful hope, which so emi- 
nently marked his gradual descent to the tomb, and 
which seemed to grow brighter and brighter, until he 
reached, as I have no doubt, unclouded day. 

" In him, 1 have lost a dear friend, and the Church 
an eminently devoted and useful minister of the gospel. 
But it is all right. ' Even so, Father, for so it seemed 
good in thy sight. The Lord reigneth; let the earth 
rejoice. Clouds and darkness are around about him; but 
righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.'' 

" I am, my dear sir, with much regard, your friend 
and brother, in those bonds which can never be broken. 
"SAMUEL MILLER. 

" Princeton, January 29, 1836." 

Dr. Nevins was a very valuable writer, especially in 
the latter part of his life. Two volumes of his writings, 
one on Practical Subjects in Divinity, the other on 
Popery, have recently issued from the press of the 
American Tract Society, as standard publications. He 
also wrote six tracts ; three of which were premium 
tracts. Five of them have been published by the 
American Tract Society. They are entitled, " The 
Great Alternative." "What have I done 1 ?" "What 
must I do 1" " I will give liberally ;" and " Don't 
break the Sabbath." The other is, "On the subject 
of supplying the accessible population of the whole 
world with the Word of God, within a definite period." 
This last tract is one of unusual power. It will be 

found among the following papers. Some of the others, 

7* 



78 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 

are of uncommon excellence. Those already published 
have been blessed, and since his death, seem to be 
more so than ever. Dr. Nevins never published but two 
sermons. These appeared in the National Preacher, and 
are excellent. In regard to authorship, Dr. Nevins 
wrote as follows : 

" Baltimore, December 9, 1834. 
" I find that the habit I have got into of writing for 
the press, has made my hours pass much more agreea- 
bly than otherwise they would. I have written a great 
deal since my affliction. I have articles on hand for 
the Observer for several weeks ; last week I wrote 
a tract; and, I have several other things in prepara- 
tion. I have had many prayers answered. For several 
years, I almost daily prayed that I might be permit- 
ted to produce one useful tract, — never thinking to 
go beyond that, and hardly expecting to accomplish 
that much. My ambition for authorship never extend- 
ed further. But God has already enabled me to do 
much more." 

Often does he, in his discourses and correspondence, 
hold language expressive of the great kindness of his 
affectionate people. That kindness deeply affected 
him. In no instance does he seem to think more of 
such kindness, than when his mind might be supposed 
to be least turned to any earthly friends. In a letter 
dated January 29, 1835, he says: 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 79 

"My congregation were never so attentive to me. 
It seems as if they could not do enough for me. But, 
one is wanting — the charm of my house — the desire of 
my eyes — perhaps, the idol of my heart. Death had 
marked her for his prize ; or rather, I hope, Christ, 
seeing her engaged in conflict with death, came in and 
carried her off, his trophy." 



SELECT REMAINS 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 



SELECT REMAINS 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D.D 



THEOLOGY. 

Science of every kind is imperfect; and every suc- 
ceeding age adds something to the accumulation of 
past ages. If they, who give themselves to the study 
of nature, look downward, there is an unexplored 
world ; and if they look upward, there is a blazing 
universe, yet but very partially investigated, about 
which, they can, at least, conjecture or fancy some- 
thing new. But in morality and religion there is 
nothing new. The great subjects of human duty and 
human destiny, both as to matter, manner, and motive, 
have not, for centuries, received any addition from 
discovery. What man ought to do and to be ; the 
reason why he ought so to do and be ; the duty in all 
its fulness ; the manner of performing it, in all its 
plainness : and the motives, in all their strength and 
variety, are as old, to say no more, as the resurrection 
of Jesus Christ from death. 



84 SELECT REMAINS OF 

New discoveries in matters of revealed truth, I look 
not for, and must confess, that whatever is novel, I 
suspect of being false. Light, I have no doubt, is still 
to be shed on certain obscure passages of Holy Writ, 
especially in the fulfilment of prophecy ; but that the 
science of Theology should advance, as other sciences 
do, every year almost, becoming more perfect and 
satisfactory, seems to me impossible. The reason is 
obvious. Theological truth is not come at as other 
truth is. It is not the result of any long and laborious 
induction. It is not built up by any experiment. It is 
a science of pure revelation ; and therefore must have 
existed, in its perfection, from the date of the revelation. 
It cannot be affected, as other sciences, by the march 
of mind, for it is the human mind that marches, not the 
divine. Now theological truth is the expression of this 
mind, to which there can be no accession of new ideas. 
If, eighteen hundred years ago, God had made a 
revelation on the subject of astronomy, the science of 
astronomy would have been as perfect a science then, 
as it is now. The astronomer of the first century, 
would have held in his hand a complete and unerring 
treatise on his favorite science ; and what more could 
the astronomer of the nineteenth century have 1 And 
why should not the former be as likely to attain to the 
true meaning, as the latter 1 What I have supposed 
of the science of astronomy, is of theology, strictly 
and literally true ; and in this respect, it is distin- 
guished from all other sciences. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 85 



RELIGION. 

Religion is not the growth of tears. Nor has it 
aught to do with that weanedness from the world, 
which disappointment or bereavement or sickness pro- 
duces. 

It is the grandest of all attainments to be ready to 
meet God. 

By habituating ourselves to behold the glory of the 
Lord through a glass darkly, we are fitting to behold 
him face to face. 

When thy heart is changed, thy nature regenerated, 
thy sins forgiven, thyself a penitent, thou hast but just 
enlisted and put on the armor, — thou hast not engaged 
in the first conflict; the perils, privations, and hardships 
of man, are all before thee ; thou hast only entered the 
arena, where we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but 
with principalities, and powers, and spiritual wicked- 
nesses in high places ; thou art only starting in the 
race ; thou hast only gotten within the gate ; the 
narrow way is yet in all its length and ruggedness 
before thee. 

Is religion worthy of any attention 1 Is there truth 

and importance in it ] Settle this point. Can you say, 

no ] If you say, yes, then you must admit that it is 

worthy of all attention. If it is any thing, it is every 

thing. If any thing is to be gained by it, or lost by it, 

every thing is. If good is to be realized by it, it is the 

greatest good ; if evil, the greatest evil. If it is worth 
8 



86 SELECT REMAINS OF 

seeking at all, it is worth seeking first. It claims im- 
mediate and most earnest attention, or no attention. If 
you cannot safely trifle with it, there is nothing so 
dangerous to trifle with. 

True religion can never long exist under any cir- 
cumstances, without making itself visible. If it is too 
humble a principle to court observation, it is yet too 
active and influential a principle to escape it. The 
grace of God produces a greater change than can be 
concealed. 

It is a stupid thing to say that one religion is as 
good as another ; — an impious thing for one who re- 
ceives the Scriptures, to contend that it is no matter 
what a man's faith is; — and a false charity which 
prompts a man to believe more favorably concerning 
his fellow creatures, than the Bible authorizes. 

A man is truly religious, in so far as he is sincerely 
submissive to the will of God, and no further. 

All who withhold of their very superfluities, are not 
the followers of him, who to the entire impoverishment 
of himself, gave for the enriching of us. 

No other religion but an experienced religion, meets 
the necessities of man. Speculative religion is seeing, 
and can no more reach a sinner's wants and miseries, 
than seeing a medicine can expel disease, or seeing a 
dinner can satisfy hunger. We must taste as well as 
see that the Lord is good. The rumor of peace relieves 
not the troubled. Give him peace itself. If there is 
reality in experimental religion, there is importance 
in it. 

I have not much religion — very little indeed ; I desire 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 87 

to have more. But what I have, is worth every thing 
to me. There is a glorious reality in experimental 
religion ; and there is nothing else worth any thing. 



RELIGION AND MORALITY. 

There are many things which recommend us to one 
another besides our moral qualities. But God has 
regard to these alone. His view extends to the inmost 
man— the heart. If that be not right in his sight, all 
is wrong. And it cannot be right, except when it 
supremely loves him in obedience to his first great 
command. How the children of a family stand affected 
toward each other, is a secondary concern. How they 
stand affected towards the father of all, is the inquiry, 
first in order and first in dignity. Some men despise 
religion. To be consistent, they ought much more to 
despise morality. If there be any thing contemptible 
in the concern and endeavor to understand and dis- 
charge the duties which we owe to the great and good 
Being who made us ; much more is the care to feel 
and act right towards onr fellow worms, contemptible. 
There is a sacredness in the filial obligation, which 
does not belong to the fraternal. If one cast off the fear 
of God, let him not glory in his regard for man. The 
unjust judge, in the parable, was consistent. He 
neither feared God, nor regarded man. Morality is 



88 SELECT REMAINS OF 

every thing, if there be no God. Religion would be 
every thing, if there were no creatures surrounding us. 
It is passing strange that man should select as the 
class of duties to be disregarded by them, those which 
have respect to the Being, to whom, according to com- 
mon belief, and the clear intimations of conscience, they 
have to give account ; that they should be so careless 
to stand well with Him, before whom they are presently 
to appear in solitary arraignment, for rigid reckoning 
and final retribution. And I have set it down under 
the head— infatuation— madness ! They look around 
on men, with a benevolence of feeling, but when they 
look up to God, if ever they do, how blank their expres- 
sion, how unmoved their hearts ; and they find relief 
only in looking away. You despise the substitution of 
religion for morality, and so you ought ; but why do 
you not despise the substitution of morality for religion] 
A wrong state of the heart towards other beings, is 
inconsistent with a right state of heart towards God. 
He, that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father. 
If one has not faith towards Christ, he has not love 
towards God. If a man loves not his brother, whom 
he hath seen, it is plain he does not love God, whom he 
hath not seen. And if he love not the image of the 
Father in his own person, how can he love it when 
found in the person of the Son ? 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 89 



CREEDS. 



Those who subscribe a "form of words," not inspired 
by the Holy Ghost, have been accused of being- always 
hampered in their interpretations of the Bible. They 
are supposed to feel all the while they are studying the 
Scriptures, that there is an authority in matters of faith 
superior to them, and that their great care must be not 
to give such an interpretation of them, as shall array 
them in opposition to this superior authority. But it is 
not so. We are falsely accused in this matter. We 
are as free and unembarrassed in our interpretations of 
the Bible, as those who throw aside all creeds, under 
the belief of their utter inutility. No man can be more 
unembarrassed. We do not take our texts from any 
confession of faith ; nor go we for proof of any proposi- 
tion to that earthly source. Our proofs, equally with 
our texts, are of and from the holy Scriptures. Nor is it 
at all our object, in preaching the gospel, to show how 
exactly the Westminster Assembly have expressed the 
mind of the Spirit. How then can our assent to the 
substantial accuracy of a certain creed embarrass us 1 
Because we believe that a certain book or books 
express, in one set of words, what in another phrase- 
ology, the Bible teaches, are we, therefore, not free and 
unshackled in our own interpretation of the Bible ; 
especially where, if at any time, we discover a disagree- 
ment between the human work and the divine, we 

never hesitate a moment to give the preference to the 
8* 



90 SELECT REMAINS OF 

latter 1 Are we, as it is alleged, bound down to a 
particular creed 1 If we are, it is the creed of the 
Scriptures. Are we afraid to think and to investigate, 
lest we should be led to adopt opinions differing from 
those which our Confession expresses ] I repeat — it is 
not so. Suppose I were to say of Ridgley's Divinity 
or Dwight's Theology, that I think it expresses, sub- 
stantially, the doctrines of the Bible, should I dishonor 
the Bible by that remark'? Should I degrade it from the 
high place which it ought to occupy in every mind, as 
the only infallible rule of faith 1 Is this any thing 
more than every preacher says by implication of his 
own sermons ] If he did not think they expressed the 
doctrines of the Bible, would he preach them *? How 
then can it dishonor or degrade the Bible, if I say the 
same of the Thirty-nine Articles, or of the Westminster 
Confession 1 

Much of the outcry against systematic theology and 
confessions of faith, must be accounted for, on the sup- 
position of special odium against those that now prevail. 
But be not deceived. One of the most certain indica- 
tions by which truth is distinguished from falsehood, is 
derived from the fact, that one is systematic, while the 
other is not so. Truth has always its connexions and 
dependances. It is not a single proposition, but a 
chain of related propositions. Now, if truth be in itself 
systematic or consistent, our view of truth, if it be correct, 
must also be systematic. And a creed is but the con- 
fession of our views of truth. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 91 



INFIDELS. 



If infidels and careless persons cannot make it 
absolutely certain to their minds that the gospel is 
untrue, (and no one was ever able to do this,) their 
conduct is unreasonable and inexcusable. The simple 
possibility of the truth of such a system as the gospel, 
is quite sufficient to alarm the fears, to excite the 
hopes, and to awaken the liveliest interest of immortal 
beings. The unbeliever is acting as if he were abso- 
lutely certain that the gospel is a fabrication. Whereas, 
he has no solid and rational and abiding persuasion that 
even he, himself, may not yet have to yield to such an 
overwhelming weight of evidence in favor of its truth, 
as will satisfy the most reluctant and tardy mind. 

It is immoral and ungodly practice that produces 
erroneous opinions. It is free-living that produces free- 
thinking. There is reciprocal action of each on the 
other. 

In giving us a revelation, God hath accompanied it 
with evidence sufficient to make faith reasonable and 
unbelief inexcusable, and further than this he was not 
bound to go. 

How rare it is to meet with, or even read of, a devout 
deist or religious infidel. There was hardly ever a 
speculative deist, that was not a thorough-going prac- 
tical atheist. And truly, if a man gives up Christian- 
ity, there is not much in religion worth retaining — 
nothing, if we confine ourselves to eternity. 



I 



92 SELECT REMAINS OF 



INFIDELITY. 

It is no way wonderful that there should be infidels 
now, when on the awful day of the crucifixion, there 
were so many infidels around the cross — when though 
the earth trembled under their feet, and the heavens 
were darkened at noonday over their heads, only a 
single one was made to cry out, " Truly this was the 
Son of God." 

Infidels say, if our religion is so important, why is it 
not universal 1 Such ought to remember that there 
have been two periods before the birth of our Saviour, 
when it was universal, and that since his birth, it has 
demolished every system of idolatry that was in the 
known world. It would, however, be a sufficient reply, 
to such, to say, " That with the Lord, one day is as a 
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day ; and 
that God is not slack concerning his promise," but has 
reserved, in his infinite wisdom, the latter day, for the 
most glorious manifestations of his grace ; so that if 
Christianity had always been universal, it would, at 
the same time, have been grossly false in its pre- 
dictions. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 93 



PHILOSOPHY. 

Philosophy may boast that her's is a tried founda- 
tion. And she may appeal to her disciples, as we do 
to Christians, if they have not been supported by it 
through all the adventures of life, and in the hour of 
death. But she has no testimony, as Christianity has, 
from beyond the grave. John heard many voices in 
heaven, saying, " Worthy is the Lamb," &c, but none 
ever heard the blessed above, crying, "Worthy is 
philosophy to receive honor and glory." 

There is a philosophy that pretends to a sovereignty 
over the ills of life, boasting of a mithridate, or a 
catholicon, that will cure every pain of the heart. 
But ah ! there is more and longer grief in the cure than 
in the patient sufferance of the ill. It cures by cauter- 
izing the heart, so that it shall not feel. 



REASON. 



The province of reason respecting the Scriptures, i3 
two-fold: — -first, to ascertain whether they bear the 
marks of a divine original; and secondly, to ascertain 
their true meaning. 

The advance of the ancients was attended with no 



94 SELECT REMAINS OF 

improvement. The much adored philosophy, which 
came to its maturity in Greece, whatever else it did, 
did nothing for correct theology. Athens had more 
gods than all Greece besides ; and Socrates, the best 
and wisest of Athens, advised his pupil not to pray, and 
asked, as his dying request to his friend, that he would 
slay a cock, which he had just recollected he owed to 
Esculapius. 

At best, reason is but a little taper, that lights us on 
our way to death, when it becomes a dim and dimin- 
ished flame and goes out. 

Reason has never fathomed the depths of the future. 
She can never chase away its cloud. She goes with 
you to the utmost verge of life, points to the darkness, 
and leaves you alone. If you ask of her, what you 
are to expect beyond it, she can only put into your 
hand Plato's book, or Cicero's commentary upon it ; 
and while you doubt, she bids you die and decide the 
mighty question. Oh, be " led by the Spirit of God." 
Let him take you by the hand, — lead you to the Bible, 
and to the Saviour, and he will lead you, through 
holiness, to heaven — to God. 

Some say their reason declares certain doctrines of 
revelation to be untrue, and that is enough. Your 
reason ! And what, pray, is your reason 1 How much 
is its dictum worth *? What weighs your reason in the 
great scale of minds ? Who made it a judge of what 
its Maker ought to reveal, and ought to be and ought 
to do 1 and to affirm that this may be true, and that 
may not be true ] Do you say that God enkindled this 
light within you 1 True ; but he meant it to illuminate 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 95 

its own little sphere, and not to boast itself a sun, and 
plant itself in the heavens, in its Maker's place and 
stead. 

There be many that say, reason is man's able and 
sufficient teacher, counsellor and guide, through earth 
to heaven ; and that he needs no other religion than 
what reason finds within the mind, and deduces from 
works without the mind. Is it so 1 Where then was 
reason when men went from the truth of the one God 
to polytheism, that it put in no warning voice 1 When 
the immortal bowed himself low to the hazeless sun, 
and thanked him for his influences, was it the igno- 
rance or the obstinacy of reason, that she did not teach 
him better 1 Could she not penetrate beyond a star, or 
distinguish that which shone from him who made it 
shine 1 Was reason asleep, when dead men were made 
gods, and worshipped by human suffrage, and had their 
tenements assigned them in heaven, and their districts 
allotted them on earth ? It were enough to canonize, 
and not to deify ! though it may be as bad to make a 
saint as a god. Idolatry prevailed. Was idolatry the 
child of reason ; or did she only adopt the infant 1 And 
magic, divination of its various kinds, and sorcery, had 
they their noble parentage in reason; or did she only 
stand godmother to them 1 Was it her voice, that said 
in calamity, slay a sacrifice, and if the calamity thicken, 
offer a hecatomb ; study the pure science of futurity in 
the entrails of a hart; mark and note down the way 
of a bird in the air ; for thereby is knowledge of things 
to come 1 These questions are sufficiently answered by 
the fact, that all these absurdities came in, when reason 



96 SELECT REMAINS OF 

was sole sovereign, and when, in other matters, it was 
as vigorous as it ever has been. In religion only, it 
seemed to fail, for at the same time that the devotion 
of Eygpt was consecrating reptiles to her worship, her 
reason was demonstrating theorems in geometry. Nay, 
while the priest was offering the annual victim to the 
Nile, the geometrician was upon the bank, applying 
his reasonings to the measurement of its overflowing. 
Let it be remembered, that the same country, which 
was the cradle of science, philosophy, and the arts, 
rocked the infancy of idolatry and superstition. 



FAITH AND REASON. 

Faith is not contrary to reason, any more than John 
the Baptist was contrary to Christ — than the morning 
star is contrary to the sun. They go together, so 
far as reason can go at all, as the elder and younger 
prophet, until, one being left gazing up, the other 
mounts a chariot of fire and ascends into the third 
heaven. Though faith is greater than reason, and 
goes far beyond it, yet they are not contrary the one 
to the other. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 97 



THE BIBLE. 

One great advantage of the Bible, over other books, 
is, that with the latter, we have first to inquire into the 
sense, and then into the truth of its statements, while 
with the Bible, we need to inquire only into the sense 
of a passage ; God vouches for its truth. 

It is incalculably more important to mankind, to 
possess so much history as is contained in a few of the 
first chapters of Genesis, than all the volumes of all the 
profane historians have ever written ; for the former 
tells us of matters that wit and reason never could have 
discovered. 

Truth is recorded in the Bible, as the stars are 
sprinkled Upon the firmament. There is no appearance 
of system in either. And yet, in astronomy, is there 
not order, arrangement, the most perfect system 1 And 
may not the same be true of the Bible 1 Is there har- 
mony in created objects and not in revealed truth 1 Is 
not the truth one and concordant ? 

If the system revealed in the Bible is not a fable, it 
is certainly not a trifle. 

It is the grand peculiarity of the Christian revelation, 
that it makes human destiny, in all its weight and 
eternity, to hang and turn on the treatment that men 
give to Jesus Christ — his person, his doctrine, his laws. 

It is wonderful, that profaneness is not awed into 
veneration, and infidelity disarmed of its doubts and 
objections, by the amazing grandeur of even the 



98 SELECT REMAINS OF 

descriptions of the Bible. There is in them, a simpli- 
city that attempts nothing, and yet a sublimity that 
towers above every thing. I inquire, not where is the 
piety, or the learning, or the good sense, or the decency ; 
but I ask, where is the taste of the man that can dip 
his pen in gall to assail and write down such a book as 
this] Where is his susceptibility of high emotions] 
One might as well attempt to write down the wonders 
of nature, to defame the storm and the tempest, or to 
cast Etna or Niagara out of the works of God, as to 
show that such a passage of Scripture, as for instance, 
that in Revelation xx, 11 — 15, was not from God. 

Those who complain that they cannot understand 
the Bible, understand much more of it than they make 
any good use of. Parts of it are too plain for them ; 
they mortify their pride ; they interfere with the grati- 
fication of their lusts. 

Much as men affect to despise the Bible, it is a book 
which shall be honored to have a place before the 
throne of God, when that throne shall be set for judg- 
ment ; — a book which, whether men will now consent 
to be ruled by it or not, they will have to be judged by 
hereafter. 

Though the Bible brings into view some most cheer- 
ing and encouraging truths, it does not authorize 
unconcern. There are appalling as well as consoling 
doctrines in this holy book. It employs the language 
of threatening, as well as that of promise. If there is 
every thing in it that can inspire hope, there is also in 
it every thing that could beget salutary fear. It makes 
not heaven more certain to some, than it does hell to 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 99 

others ; and while it publishes salvation, it does, on the 
same high authority, speak of " the wrath to come." 
It asks thee what thou art, before it tells thee what 
thou shalt be. If, with a penitent and believing heart, 
thou art following Jesus, the cross in thy hand, and 
heaven in thine eye, it tells thee, thou art the child of 
God, the favorite of angels, the heir of glory, unfading 
and eternal. But if otherwise, it tells thee as plainly 
and as positively, that thou art a child of Satan and an 
heir of hell. Does this blessed volume authorize list- 
lessness and encourage indolence, when it tells thee 
that strait is the gate and narrow is the way that 
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it; and 
urges thee to add to seeking, agonizing strife, to enter 
in at the strait gate 1 In the last general conflagration, 
all books ever read or known on earth, shall be con- 
sumed, except the Bible, which will remain uninjured, 
and will be preserved unto the judgment, and will be 
the only authority recognised in the trials and decisions 
of that day. 

Admit the Bible to be uninspired, — is there nothing 
to be alarmed or uneasy about after that ! Verily, there 
is more than ever. The book of providence and nature, 
the infidel's Bible, is a far more terrific volume than the 
Christian's Bible. The views it presents of the charac- 
ter of God are nothing like so satisfactory. Where is 
that chapter in it that is headed, " Mercy T' In what 
part does it treat of the forgiveness of sin and the life 
everlasting ? On what page are its invitations, encour- 
agements and promises, recorded ? Where is there a 
word in it to calm a troubled conscience 1 How does it 



100 SELECT REMAINS OF 

extract the sting and annihilate the horrors of death 1 
What foundation does it discover, on which one may 
erect the hope of future happiness 1 It is amazing that 
any should fly to it for consolation, and above all, 
astonishing, that any should fly from the holy Scrip- 
tures to it, and imagine they have made a grand 
escape, when they have shaken off the belief of that 
only book, which, while it proclaims glory to God, 
publishes peace on earth and good will to men. Admit 
that the infidel does live without care and without 
concern, he yet may safely be defied to make it appear 
reasonable. Admit that he dies without anxiety or 
apprehension. Thus the great metaphysical skeptic of 
Britain died. But in vain has his admirer and eulogist, 
the political economist, endeavored to assign any good 
reason for it. After all, he has only shown the world 
that his friend died as the fool dieth. 

Every one must perceive this peculiarity about 
Christianity, that it could not originally have been 
believed to be true, without being true ; because, in- 
stead of merely comprising a set of opinions, it is built 
on a fact, concerning which, as stated, there could have 
been no danger of mistake. If Christianity had been 
merely a system of faith, then the fact of its making 
converts, would only have proved that certain persons 
believed it to be true, not that it was actually true ; but 
Christianity was made to rest its whole weight on the 
single fact of Christ's resurrection. If, therefore, the 
risen Jesus was seen and heard and handled after his 
resurrection, this would prove not only that some 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 101 

people supposed him to be alive, but that he had 
actually risen from the dead. 

Some think and even speak contemptuously of the 
religion of the heart — of Christianity as demanding 
special control over the affections, as a thing felt. It is 
truly strange. Other subjects touch and take hold of 
the heart, why should not religion 1 Patriotism has its 
seat there ; friendship lives among the affections ; there 
the child cherishes his parent, and the parent his child. 
And may not our God and Saviour have a place and a 
name there 1 We feel towards all other beings, and 
may we not, must we not, towards Him, who both crea- 
ted and redeemed usl 

The Bible is by no means to be considered an elemen- 
tary book. It is not written in the manner of such 
Compositions. It does not contain the easy lessons of 
children, arranged in an order adapted to their progres- 
sive intelligence. It is not a primer ; but while there 
is much in it which a child may understand, and while 
it points out a path in which the wayfaring man, 
though a fool, need not err, there are also in it things 
hard to be understood, things deep and high, which 
they that are unlearned and unstable may wrest to 
their own destruction. 

The doctrine of the insufficiency of the word alone, 

and without the Spirit to make the sinner wise unto 

salvation, is no disparagement of the Bible, and no 

reflection on its author ; because the defect is not in 

the book, but the fault is in the mind of the reader. 

It is not that the object is not sufficiently illuminated ; 

it is that our spiritual vision is clouded by sin. If 
9* 



102 SELECT REMAINS OF 

the human soul were in the right state, the mere 
teaching of the word would be sufficient. A treatise on 
the mathematics may be good and plain, though it 
should not make every man who reads it a good 
mathematician. 

We have no doubt that they who lived before the 
advent of Christ, were much better acquainted with 
him, and with the way of salvation through him, and 
had a much clearer view of the objects of faith, than 
we are accustomed to suppose when reading the Old 
Testament scriptures. We are not to presume that we 
have all the revelations^ of God to our race, recorded in 
this volume. It is probable that we have only so much 
as was necessarv and convenient to be transmitted. 



GOD'S WORD. 

It is a strange way some have of treating God's 
word. They will get from it a truth which they can 
get from no other quarter, but instead of receiving its 
explanations of the truth, they will go and make their 
own unauthorized inferences from it. They will reason 
upon it, until they have positively contradicted the 
testimony of the very book, whence they derive the 
doctrine. Is this fair 1 Is it consistent 1 If you know 
that God is merciful, only because he says that he is, 
ought you not to give attention and credence to all he 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 103 

has to say about this attribute of his nature ? If God 
condescends to begin to speak to you on a subject, is it 
not the part of decorum, at least, to hear him through 1 
Is it not the veriest presumption to deduce conclusions 
from his declarations, which he expressly tells you that 
you must not ; and to put interpretations on his lan- 
guage, which he virtually says, his language will not 
bear 1 Is it not his prerogative to determine on what 
ground, in what way, and towards what characters he 
will exercise compassion 1 



THE JEWISH CHURCH. 

The object of God in calling Abraham, was not as 
some seem to think, to take the knowledge of the true 
religion from all the nations of the earth, and confine it 
to that man and his posterity ; but it was to preserve 
it in one nation, even if all others should lose it. It 
was that the knowledge of the true God might not 
perish from off the earth. It certainly did exist among 
many people, even after Abraham was called. It was 
with Melchizedec, with John, with Abimelech, with 
the earlier Pharaohs, at least among their priests ; for 
Joseph, who was one of the best men in all antiquity, 
married the daughter of an Egyptian priest, and if he 
had not found the knowledge of the true God with 
them, he certainly would have imparted it. So, too, the 



104 SELECT REMAINS OF 

wise men, who came to visit " the child that was 
born in Bethlehem," are generally supposed to have 
been pious Gentiles. So that the Jewish system was 
no injury even to the Gentiles, but on the contrary, 
a blessing. There has never been a time when a 
penitent Gentile was not as acceptable to God as a 
penitent Jew. 



CHRISTIANITY. 

The Christian system derives its chief value and 
importance, not from the things which it has in com- 
mon with other systems, but from those things by 
which it is strikingly distinguished from all of them. 
The Christian system is a system of salvation only in 
virtue of its peculiarities. 

What is Christianity 1 Various definitions may be 
given of it. It is faith working by love. It is evangel- 
ical principle carried out into practice. It is such a 
belief of the Bible as affects the heart and controls the 
conduct of a man. It is the union of piety and charity. 
It is good will producing good works. It is love, joy, 
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- 
ness and temperance, beautifully blended. It is charity 
out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of 
faith unfeigned. But it is best understood, not from 
contemplating abstract definitions of it, but from be- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 105 

holding its correct form, the animated model, the 
living exemplification of it. There was one in whom 
it breathed and spoke and acted. And that was none 
other than Christ himself. Christianity is the imitation 
of Christ. This is the most sublime idea and correct 
definition of it. 

Can any man believe that it is as well to grope one's 
way to the grave through the darkness of a moral 
midnight, as to walk a path, over which the sun of 
righteousness keeps perpetual noon 1 The truth is, we 
owe to God, for Christianity, a debt of gratitude, which 
we would do better to be paying, than wasting our 
time in proving that it is not due. 



THE GOSPEL. 

The Gospel comprehends whatever is great and fair 
and good. The sublime, the beautiful and the useful, 
all unite in it. There is also one important sense in 
which it is ever new. 

The Gospel of Christ, or the Covenant of Grace, is 
not merely remedial. It is more. It not only cures 
the disease of nature, but raises to a higher life. Christ 
is not a mere restorer. He raises the fallen to an un- 
speakably higher elevation than that from which they 
fell. He does much more than make up the loss they 
sustained in the apostacy. He causes them to realize 



106 SELECT REMAINS OF 

infinite gain. He brings them back to a nearer relation 
to the Godhead, than that from which they broke 
away. Does he reinstate them in an earthly paradise 1 
Nay ; but he exalts them to the heavenly. What was 
the earthly to the heavenly 1 There no temptation will 
assail, no enemy come in ; there every tree is a tree of 
life, and all the rivers flow with pleasure. " Where sin 
abounded, grace did much more abound ;" — " much 
more the grace of God ;" Rom. v, 15; and "much more 
they which receive abundance of grace ;" Rom. v, 17. 
There is no more triumphant thought suggested by our 
religion than this, — the superiority, in point of dignity 
and happiness, of that condition to which grace exalts 
us above that from which sin cast us down. The good 
forfeited was such as Adam, a mere man like one of 
us, would have earned, if he had been obedient. The 
good that awaits us, is the reward of the obedience of 
a Being infinitely more illustrious than was Adam. 
"The first man was of the earth, earthy; — the second 
man is the Lord from heaven ; and as we have borne 
the image of the earthy, so shall we also bear the 
image of the heavenly." 

To add to the Gospel of Christ may constitute as 
fatal a perversion as to subtract from it. It is not more 
mischievous to separate from the Gospel some of its 
essential principles, than it is to incorporate with those 
principles others that do not naturally belong to it. A 
corrupted Gospel is as destructive as a discarded Gos- 
pel. It is as injurious to believe too much as to believe 
too little. If a man held that we are justified partly by 
the faith of Christ, and partly by our own obedience, 






WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 107 

whether it be moral or ceremonial, he is fallen from 
grace, equally as if he denied the necessity of any 
dependance on Christ. In either case, Christ is become 
of no effect to him. Jesus Christ came into the world 
to save sinners, not to help them to save themselves ; 
not to do something towards saving them ; not to save 
them in part ; but by his blood and Spirit to do all 
that was necessary to their salvation, and all that is in- 
volved in their salvation. Christ came not to make 
up the deficiencies of our righteousness, but to make out 
a complete righteousness for us ; not to supply what is 
wanting in human merit, but himself alone to merit for 
us all we need or shall need through eternity. He and 
he alone must be depended on. His and his only must 
be all the glory. 

There is nothing more remarkable in the Bible, 
nothing more admirable, nothing more distinctive of it 
as the word of God, and not the work of man, than the 
simplicity of the method of salvation which it reveals ; 
and especially as it regards that which the sinner him- 
self has to do. There is mystery connected with the 
plan of salvation, it is true ; mystery in the person of 
Christ, mystery in his sufferings, and mystery in the 
operations of the Holy Spirit ; but mystery is not neces- 
sarily inconsistent with simplicity. And besides we 
have nothing to do with the mysteries of the method, 
but just to believe them as facts. It is not made 
our duty to unravel or comprehend them ; but only 
to believe them. And there is no more difficulty in 
believing a mysterious fact, than a fact not mysterious, 
if there be sufficient evidence of it. Our belief of a 



108 SELECT REMAINS OP 

statement, depends not on the nature of it, but on the 
evidence which supports it. 

The Gospel transcended expectation, and it surpassed 
conception. Even heaven, that was accustomed to 
God's benevolence, was amazed at it, and angels have 
never yet recovered from the astonishment which seized 
them, when first they contemplated the sufferings of 
Christ, and the glory that should follow. Yet wretched 
men affect to conceive that impostors have forged, or 
enthusiasts devised the glorious Gospel ; or at least 
they can see nothing marvellous in it. Oh, the human 
mind was no more capable of contriving the Gospel, 
than human hands were of spreading out and garnish- 
ing the heavens. Creation no more than redemption, 
bears the impress of Divinity. 

It is a received principle among the skeptics, that of 
two miracles, one of which must be believed, we must 
choose the less, as being the least opposed to reason. 
On this principle, the infidel is bound to believe the 
Gospel. For to regard the Bible as false, would com- 
pel us to believe a more marvellous thing, than to 
receive it as true. It is far less improbable, that this 
narrative, with all its stupendous facts and revelations, 
should be true, than that any man, or set of men, should 
have been able to invent it. The latter supposition is 
too monstrous to be received by any thing but a bad 
heart. If the Gospel came not from the inspiration of 
the Most High, will they that deny it, tell us where it 
did come from? Since it professes to come from God, if 
it did not come from him, it proceeded from a gang of 
abominable impostors ; and yet it contains, incontesta- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 109 

bly, the most pure and perfect system of ethics and 
theology, that has ever been presented to the world. 
So that the purest and sublimest doctrines had their 
derivation from the boldest impiety, and that which has 
done more than all other things put together, both to 
inform mankind of their duty, and to spur them on to 
its performance, was the work of some of the worst 
men that ever lived! Is not this a wonderful thing, a 
most stupendous miracle 1 And yet the falsehood of the 
Gospel involves this, and the infidel must believe it. 
Or will it be said, that the evangelists and apostles 
were weak and enthusiastic men — not preserved from 
old wives' fables, by any sound philosophy 1 Then 
enthusiasm, than which nothing is more easily de- 
tected, and nothing more wild and incoherent than its 
works, has produced a sober and harmonious system, 
which does not bear a single characteristic of that 
which produced it, nor has the smallest affinity with it; 
and a system which has sustained every attack made 
upon it for eighteen hundred years, and has, at this 
moment, among its friends, a large majority of the 
wisest, most learned, most scientific and most sober 
men on earth. Here is another miracle which the 
system of unbelief involves. 

10 



110 SELECT REMAINS OF 



THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL. 

The Gospel is the most powerful agent of which we 
have any knowledge. It is, (so far as known) univer- 
sal in its operations, and predominant in its influence. 
There is no man that can escape from its power, how- 
ever much he may desire to do so. He may think that 
he does, but he is mightily mistaken. No one that has 
once had the knowledge of it, can ever get out of the 
reach of it. You may let it alone, but it will not let 
you alone. You may shut out the light of the natural 
sun, and secure yourself from its various influences, but 
you cannot entirely exclude the light of the Gospel 
from your understanding and conscience. You can 
find no place where it will not exert its influences upon 
you. You have been affected by it in all time past. 
You will be affected by it to-day. You are not to-day, 
what you were yesterday ; nor will you be to-morrow, 
what you are, in a moral point of view, to-day. And 
these alterations that are continually going on in you, 
are either wholly effected, or greatly modified by the 
Gospel. You never hear a sermon, you never read a 
chapter of Holy Writ, you never live a day under the 
light of the Gospel, without being affected by it. How 
solemn and alarming the consideration ! Even while 
this thought is before your mind, the soul within you is 
changing its complexion and its consistence, — is becom- 
ing morally, and in the eye of God, more and more 
lovely, or more and more deformed, — more tender and 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. Ill 

susceptible, or more hard and insensible ; and the Gos- 
pel is the great instrument in producing these changes. 
You may say that you are entirely unconscious of any 
change, even under the preaching of the Gospel ; and 
so perhaps you are. But what of that 1 We are rarely, 
if ever conscious of the operation of moral causes upon 
us. They operate, for the most part, secretly and 
insensibly, yet not on that account any the less really 
and efficiently. Even in regard to the greatest of 
all the changes which the human character ever un- 
dergoes, the change which takes place in regenera- 
tion, when the soul passes from sin to holiness, from 
death to life, how few, whose lives prove that they 
have experienced it, can point to the precise time, when 
they even suppose it was effected. They may prove 
from infallible signs, that it has been wrought in them, 
but they are not conscious of the working. And is 
the Christian sensible of the progress by which he is 
gradually becoming more and more holy and like unto 
God? And how does he know that he is progressively 
sanctified by the truth 1 Not by his consciousness, 
while the operation is going on, but by comparing his 
character at one period with the same at some pre- 
ceding period. The same principle applies to evil 
influences. They work in secret. The heart is not 
conscious of the power that is at work upon it. Indeed, 
the man that is gradually becoming worse and worse, 
(as multitudes are, as in fact every man is, who is not 
undergoing a meliorating process,) is not only not aware 
of the several steps of the depravation, but he is perhaps 
ignorant of the fact that he is growing worse. For he 



112 SELECT REMAINS OF 

is increasing in moral insensibility. This is the princi- 
ple alteration that is taking place in him. Now we 
know that it is of the nature of moral insensibility not 
to be felt. There are, doubtless, persons whom you 
believe to be worse than they were some years ago. 
But will they confess it 1 No ; they are so blinded that 
they do not see, so hardened that they do not feel it. 
If they are incredulous of the fact, what wonder that 
they should be ignorant of the means and unconscious 
of the process. Do you suppose that Hazael, from the 
time of his interview with the prophet, was sensible of 
the means and steps by which he became the accom- 
plished villain, that could do any thing 1 And do you 
suppose that Pharaoh was conscious of the indurating 
process, that was going on in his heart, while he re- 
sisted God, in refusing to permit the departure of 
the children of Israel 1 Who can think that he was 1 
Who can believe that any man is 1 He who questions 
the correctness of these views, does but expose his 
ignorance of human nature. It may be, therefore, that 
while some of you, under the influences of the Gospel, 
are becoming better, others of you are growing worse, 
though you know it not, and cannot see how it should 
be so. So that the Gospel may be producing all the 
effects ascribed to it, your ignorance to the contrary 
notwithstanding. Indeed it is every day preparing for 
you an infinite and eternal good, or entailing upon you 
an interminable and inconceivable evil. For, as the 
Scripture plainly declares, it does not affect all men 
alike, yet does it affect all powerfully. " To some, it 
is a savour of death unto death ; to others, of life unto 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 113 

life." Two processes are going on under its influence, 
destruction and salvation. It is drawing the cords of 
love closer around Some ; it is binding the chains of 
sin faster on others. It is softening some, hardening 
others ; beautifying some, rendering others hideous ; 
laying up mercy for those, treasuring up wrath for 
these ; curing and killing. Nor need any be troubled 
or surprised at the ascription of such opposite effects to 
the Gospel. The most benignant influence not only 
produces its appropriate and benign effects, but also some- 
times gives rise to the most malignant results. In such 
case, the fault lies not in the influence, but in the state 
of the mind affected by it. It is not to be imputed to 
the Gospel as a fault to be answered for, that it hard- 
ens, deforms, and destroys. It is the fault of him who 
is hardened, deformed, and destroyed. The legitimate, 
direct, and intended effect of the Gospel, for which 
alone it is answerable* is only salutary. " God sent 
not his Son into the world to condemn the World, but 
that the world through him might be saved." You 
must not suppose that the Gospel sends forth two 
different kinds of influence, one salutary and the other 
pernicious. No ; its influence is one, and most benign ; 
but falling on different substances, they are differently 
affected by it. It is with the Gospel as it is with the 
sun. One genial, kindly, glorious influence is sent 
forth from that body ; yet, while it melts some sub- 
stances, it hardens others ; while it vivifies, cheers, and 
rejoices all nature, it raises the malignant vapor, and 
charges the atmosphere of many a region with death ; 

while it melts the wax, it hardens the clay ; while it 
10* 



114 



SELECT REMAINS OF 



ripens the precious fruit, it matures also the poisonous ; 
while it prepares the wheat for the garner, it prepares 
the tares for the fire. If these things be so, what self- 
sufficiency, ignorance and error, do they manifest, who 
think lightly of the Gospel. Even if the Gospel be a 
falsehood, it is far from being a despicable falsehood. 
But if true, it is tremendously true. 

What a blessed truth, that as we have no ability to 
escape the influence of the Gospel, we may, by God's 
grace choose the manner in which we will be affected 
by it. 

Observation and experience plainly show that they 
are mistaken, who suppose that the interests of moral- 
ity are promoted by disuniting it from religion, and 
making it to rest on a foundation of its own. In pre- 
senting the doctrines, duties, and motives of the pure 
Gospel, we are taking the best means to make men 
moral, and so good members of the family and the 
neighborhood, and good citizens of this brief world. 
No statements or teachings can compare with those 
which are purely evangelical, in reforming the disso- 
lute, taming the ferocious, humbling the proud, quiet- 
ing the turbulent, and inspiring the malignant with 
benevolence. 

When ye make Christ your refuge, ye can no more 
live unto yourselves, than previously ye could live to 
any but yourselves. 

The Gospel gives pardon to the guilty and liberty to 
the captive, purity to the polluted heart, peace to the 
troubled conscience, hope to the desponding spirit, joy 
unspeakable to the sorrowful soul, and its ultimate 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 115 

boon is glory, honor, immortality, and eternal life, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. To this height of 
happiness and honor, it raises men from the deepest 
degradation, from the lowest misery, from the foulest 
guilt, from the most fearful exposure, all but from hell 
itself. 

You have to choose, not whether you will be influenced 
by the Gospel, but how. Shall it take away your guilt, 
or increase it 1 Shall it bring you into a state of sal- 
vation, or confirm you in a lost state *? Shall it heal 
your wound, or irritate it 1 



GOD. 

Our Maker is so transcendantly interesting a Being 
to us, that in the ignorance of Him, we cease to be 
interesting to ourselves. And if atheism be true, an- 
nihilation would be the object of most earnest longing 
to all thinking men. 

The security of creatures for the present, and their 
hopes for the future, have their foundation in the moral 
attributes of Jehovah. If there be nothing in these to 
inspire confidence and hope, there is nothing in the 
universe to inspire them. 






116 SELECT REMAINS OP 



CHARACTER OP GOD. 

If God is too good and merciful to let any perish, he 
is too good and merciful to say that he will let them 
perish in case they neglect his great salvation. Yet 
he has said this again and again. If he is too good 
to execute, he is too good to threaten ; yet he has 
threatened. 

We are but poorly qualified to make deductions from 
the moral character of God. Many things have taken 
place, and many things now exist, which, previous to 
their existence, would have been thought incompatible 
with the divine benevolence : as for example, that sin 
should have been permitted to prevail, and to fill the 
world with misery as it has done ; and even more, to 
bring the Son of God from heaven to the cross and the 
grave. 

Tell me what you believe about God, and I will tell 
you what you believe on every fundamental subject of 
theology. 

A knowledge of the true character of God, is the 
only thread that can guide us safely along the laby- 
rinth of truth ; and when with this, we have traced its 
mazes through, it will conduct us out before the open 
gate of heaven. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 117 



TRINITY. 



Man is constituted of two distinct principles, matter 
and spirit ; the one his body, the other his soul. These 
principles are totally unlike each other, as any two 
substances can possibly be, and yet inexplicably com- 
bined into one person, and thus revealing in man a 
duality in unity, which is as really mysterious and as 
truly open to philosophical objections, as the Trinity in 
Unity in God, or as the doctrine of the two distinct 
natures in Christ ; and I should as soon think of reject- 
ing the first, from considerations derived from reason, 
as either of the other two. Let us clear away mystery 
and incomprehensibility from our own persons, before 
we presume to attack the person of Christ, and the 
nature of God, on this score. 

I confess, that when one reads a naked statement of 
the doctrine of the Trinity in a creed, it looks like 
a merely speculative and abstract doctrine, which, 
whether true or false, can be of very little practical 
importance to any. And I am not at all surprised that 
many wonder why a denial of it, should be regarded as 
so serious a heresy. But let it be read where it was 
first taught in the Scriptures, — let it be contemplated in 
the connexion in which God has placed it, and it will 
be found to be inwoven with the whole plan of salva- 
tion, and essential, not merely to the perfection, but to 
the very existence of that plan ; so that if you touch it, 
you make every thing else to tremble, and if you take 



118 SELECT REMAINS OF 

it away, you take it not alone, but draw down with it 
the whole beautiful building of God, and leave the 
Gospel, if the remainder may be termed the Gospel, not 
merely changed in one of its features, but an entirely 
different system from what it was, and you send man 
forth to look out for himself another and a new way of 
being saved. 



PROVIDENCE. 

The best commentary on revelation, is Providence. 
God is his own interpreter. He never errs. 



DECREES, ELECTION, PREDESTINATION. 

Men may say what they will, but of all thoughts, 
that which is most effectual to humble, that which 
most overwhelms with gratitude, is the thought, that 
before I was born, yea, from eternity, God graciously 
appointed me to salvation, prepared me a durable man- 
sion, and erected me a throne beside him. 

What is more common than for a father, in bestowing 
on a son some good, to tell him that it has long been 






WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 119 

his design to do it, or that he has always intended to 
do it ; and the existence of such a long continued pur- 
pose is considered as enhancing the father's munifi- 
cence. Christians ought to know that God blesses 
them, not on the spur of the moment, not in conse- 
quence of any recent and sudden determination to do 
so, but in accordance with an everlasting intention. 
Nothing magnifies the grace of God more, than his 
eternal purpose to exercise it. No consideration is 
better suited to promote both humility and gratitude. 
It fills the soul of the believer with wonder, love, and 
joy, that he should have been among the thoughts of 
God from eternity. Thus Paul certainly felt and be- 
lieved, when he uttered that sublime thanksgiving to 
God, in his Epistle to the Ephesians; "Blessed be the 
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath 
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly 
places in Christ ; according as he hath chosen us in 
him before the foundation of the world, that we should 
be holy and without blame before him in love ; hav- 
ing predestinated as unto the adoption of children, by 
Christ Jesus, to himself, according to the good pleasure 
of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace." 

Some persons say that they do not believe the doc- 
trines of Election and Predestination. But they, per- 
haps, do not mean exactly what they say. If they 
believe the Scriptures, they must and do believe these 
doctrines. All who believe the Scriptures, are com- 
pelled to believe them. That is, they admit that 
certain truths are taught, to which these names are 
given. These persons only mean that they do not 



120 SELECT REMAINS OF 

believe certain explanations of these doctrines, as for 
example, that given by Antinoraians, or that given by 
Calvinists. But the doctrine itself, is a matter of as 
clear revelation, as that of salvation by the death of 
Christ. 

Perhaps most men are really less opposed to the 
divine decrees, than to the things decreed. 

The doctrine of Predestination is not fatalism. No 
denomination of Christians in this land, so teach the 
doctrine as to discourage human efforts. And where 
it is rightly understood, it is, in a superlative degree, 
calculated to excite the mind, impel it on to action, 
and encourage it in making exertions. So far from 
rendering our efforts useless, it establishes the necessity 
of them, and ensures their success. Such has always 
been the effect of the doctrine, when rightly understood, 
and cheerfully and cordially embraced. 



JUDGMENTS. 



In times of divine judgments, there is one reason 
for the impenitency of the wicked, which does not how- 
ever exculpate them. It is found in the state of the 
Church. No wonder the unregenerate are impenitent, 
when God's people are comparatively unaffected — no 
marvel the former return not, when the latter do not. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 121 

It would be surprising - that the blind should see, when 
those who have eyes, do not perceive. If the light 
slumbers of the righteous are not broken, how should 
the deep sleep of death in the wicked be disturbed 1 
How should that, which has not melted ice, dissolve 
adamant 1 Why should the ungodly supplicate, when 
the righteous make not intercession 1 Yet let not sin- 
ners wait for Christians to do their duty 1 Anticipate 
them. God will not despise a man's cry for mercy, 
because others are not praying for him. No one, 
perhaps, was interceding for the publican, when he said, 
" God be merciful to me a sinner," — no one but the 
great Intercessor ; and he " ever liveth to make inter- 
cession." The publican was not saved in a time of 
revival, but of abounding formality and hypocrisy ; 
therefore let no sinner wait for any one to move before 
him, when God is speaking to him, especially in the 
voice of terrible judgments. 



GOD'S MERCY. 

When we reflect on the circumstances under which 
the mercy of God was proclaimed from the mountain, 
that might not be touched, and that burned with fire, 
and on the circumstances under which it was re-echoed 
from another mount — from Calvary — in other language 
— a frowning heaven above, and a trembling earth 
11 



122 SELECT REMAINS OF 

beneath ; and in the midst of darkness and death, we 
cannot fail to perceive that there is something awful in 
the mercy of God, and something appalling in the for- 
giveness of the Gospel. The impression necessarily, in- 
tentionally, and really made is, that there is something 
in God more severe than mercy ; something more fear- 
ful than forgiveness. And though we be in the enjoy- 
ment of a peaceful hope, yet when we reflect on the 
price of our salvation, there is much to strike an awe 
upon our spirits. Christians, we live by the death of 
the Son of God. God, to spare us, spared not his own 
Son. Mount Calvary, no less than Mount Sinai, 
teaches that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands 
of the living God, for he is a consuming fire. 



DIVINE TENDERNESS. 

"Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord 
pitieth them that fear him." How a father pities and 
feels for a child, they that are fathers know, and they 
that are not, cannot well know. One of the most 
interesting accounts of a father's pity, is found in Leigh 
Richmond's memoir of his son Wilberforce. Think of 
a few particulars, how a father pities. 

He so pities that he is infinitely far from taking 
delight in the sufferings of his children, even when it 
becomes necessary for their good to inflict them. It 






WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 123 

grieves him more to chastise them, than them to be 
chastised. In all their afflictions, he is afflicted, and 
more than they. What parent, having corrected a child, 
has not gone away and wept for pure pity of him'? 
What parent, in denying a child something, has not 
found it a greater self-denial 1 Is such, a father's 
heart towards his children 1 Such is God's towards 
his. It grieves him to chastise. " He does not afflict 
willingly," nor "of his pleasure." "In all their afflic- 
tion he is afflicted." It is not misery, but mercy that is 
his delight. 

A father so pities, that he would spare or relieve his 
child, if he could with propriety. God has the power, 
and as often as, in view of all considerations, it is best, 
he exercises it. A parent, sometimes has the power, 
and does not extend it. The principle of benevolence 
within him, which proposes the greatest good of his 
child for the longest time, forbids that he should yield 
to the impulse of pity, which calls for the rendering of 
immediate relief. So the Lord pities. He that spared 
not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, would 
spare thee, child of God, every sorrow thou hast, and 
would relieve thine every pain, but that "whom the 
Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son 
whom he receiveth." 

A father so pities his children, that he would, if he 
could, even suffer in their stead. More than one 
father has said, " would God, I had died for thee, my 
son, my son ! " And is the pity of the Lord like a 
father's, in this particular too ? Yes, the Lord doth thus 
pity. Our Lord could suffer thus in our stead. He has 



124 



SELECT REMAINS OP 



actually laid down his life for us ; and it commendeth 
his love and pity, that he did it when we were not 
children, nor friends, but enemies. Does he of a truth 
so pity, that he would even suffer in their place, aye, 
and die for them 1 He has already so pitied. " Surely 
he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." He 
has even died for us. Oh, what compassion ! He has 
done what many a father has wished in vain he could 
do. He could suffer for the objects of his love, and he 
has done so. He had power over his life to lay it down 
for them, and he did it. So the Lord has pitied. 

A father so pities his children, that to promote their 
comfort and happiness, he will spare no pains and 
no expense, and will keep back nothing-. How much 
the parent will spend, if necessary, for the child. The 
sorrows and wants of his child, can open even the heart 
of the most avaricious. Such is the pity of the Lord. 
He withheld not his own Son. Having one Son, his 
only begotten Son, he sent him : and how shall he not 
with him freely give us all things, cost what they may, 
of love, and mercj^, and grace, and truth, and power. 

Such is the pity of a father, that if his children 
rebel against him and depart from him, he will affec- 
tionately call them to repent, and will not only invite, 
but entreat them to return to him; and there are no 
means to relieve them which he will leave untried, to 
effect his tender purposes. He will do till he can do no 
more. So the Lord pities. He asks, "what could I 
have done more that I have not done f» He invites, en- 
treats, expostulates, reasons, promises, threatens, and 
urges, by every possible consideration. How loth is the 






WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 125 

father to give up his child and surrender all hope of his 
restoration to obedience and favor. And he says, "how 
shall I give thee up f" But that is the very language 
of God respecting Ephraim. It is inspiration. How 
does the father hail the first symptom of relenting in 
his child ; how does he exult, even in the faint prospect 
of his being restored to him ; and when he sees him 
beginning to return, how does he not wait to welcome 
him, but go forth to meet and embrace him ! Just 
such is the pity of the Lord to them that fear him. 

A father's pity is such that it does not forget its 
object. It is never out of his thoughts. He needs not 
to be reminded of it. Can he forget 1 Can the other 
parent, the mother 1 Can she 1 Yes, in some cases, 
he may and she may. " Yet, saith God, will not I." 

If such is the commiseration God has for his children, 
how entirely calm and free from painful solicitude they 
may be, "casting all their care upon him, for he careth 
for them ; being careful for nothing, but in all things 
by prayer and thanksgiving, making known their 
requests unto God, taking no thought," since he takes 
thought for them. 

And if such is the pity of the Lord, what will not his 
bounty be 1 What the munificence of his bounty, that 
it may be in proportion to the tenderness of his compas- 
sion 1 It is large now, but how much larger it will be, 
when he has no longer any occasion for pity and for- 
bearance — when misery is no more, and sighing has 
ceased, and God's hand has, for the last time, passed 
across the weeping eyes, and wiped away the final 
tear 1 What must be his generosity, whose pity is sq 
11* 



128 SELECT REMAINS OF 

great 1 What will he not do for them, having so felt 
for them ? What must be the glory of that place to 
which he will take them, after he shall have made 
them perfect through sufferings? What exalted honors, 
what ecstatic joys must he not have in reserve for 
them, whom he came down here to weep with, and now 
takes up thither to rejoice with 1 

And if such is the pity of the Lord to them that fear 
him in this state of most imperfect sanctification, his 
pity towards them while with their sufferings there is 
mingled so much sin, what will be his complacency in 
them, when they shall have ceased to sin, and shall be 
perfectly conformed to his image 1 ? How will he 
delight himself in them, when there is nothing in 
them any longer, in which he cannot take the purest 
delight ! 

If thou art the object of such pity, be thyself the 
subject of similar pity. Pity as thou art pitied. Cared 
for, thyself, care for others. Let the case of others 
reach thy heart, as thine reached God's. Hast thou no 
tears for others' woes; thou, for whom so many have 
been shed 1 ? Nor give to misery merely thy tear. 
Tears did not save thee, nor can they save others. 
Speak the word of consolation ; reach out the hand of 
help ; do the substantial deeds of kindness. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 127 



TERMS OF RECONCILIATION WITH GOD. 

The unreasonableness and impiety of all the objec- 
tions made by sinners against the provisions, terms and 
offers of the Gospel, are most manifest to any one who 
duly considers, that the conditions of every reconcil- 
iation ought naturally to come from the party offended, 
especially if he be a superior, and more especially if he 
stand to the offender in the relation of a lawgiver and 
sovereign. It is not for the offending subject to say, on 
what terms peace and harmony shall be restored be- 
tween him and his offended sovereign. It is the sov- 
ereign's sole and unquestionable prerogative to ordain 
the terms. Favor' is a thing that cannot be claimed — 
it must be offered. To God, therefore, must we look 
for the terms of reconciliation between him and us. 

In the case of those who have sinned against God, 
the Sovereign offended is the only being who can know 
on what terms it is fit and proper that he should be 
reconciled to his offending subjects. None but the 
lawgiver, whose law it is that has been violated, can 
say, under what circumstances it is safe and right that 
he should forgive the violation of his law. None but 
he has the means of judging what terms will best 
secure the honor of his government and the good of the 
r offender. Thus our reason is unable to anticipate on 
) such a subject, and is guilty of the boldest presumption 
in pronouncing, that on such and such terms God ought 
to be, and doubtless will be, reconciled to man. No 



128 SELECT REMAINS OF 

cherub or seraph ever was so daring, or so confided in 
his own powers. Inasmuch, therefore, as they must 
come from Him, and reason cannot tell what they 
ought to be, we see the necessity of a communication 
from God, revealing the conditions of human salvation. 

The sovereign has evidently a right to exercise a 
great deal of authority in making his terms. His own 
good pleasure is a sufficient reason for any article that 
he chooses to introduce into the conditions of reconcil- 
iation. He is not bound to explain, why the conditions 
are such as they are. The offender ought not to ask 
an explanation. We allow thus much to earthly sov- 
ereigns and to human parents. A father may connect 
his favor and blessing with the performance of condi- 
tions by his child, the reason and propriety of which 
he does not explain, and which to the child may appear 
to be purely arbitrary. And may not God do the same 1 
Is he bound to tell us why he connects our pardon and 
happiness with these conditions and not with others 1 
May we call him to account for the terms on which he 
proposes to be reconciled to us, and suggest others 
which we think would have been more suitable, and 
refuse to do what he commands, until he explains why 
he commands it 1 

Another remark having a bearing on this subject, and 
one which can hardly fail of convincing all candid men 
of the unreasonableness of cavilling at the conditions of 
salvation and the positive institutions of the Gospel, is, 
that an Omnipotent Being has ordained them. When 
a feeble fellow creature prescribes a certain course for 
you to pursue, to secure a desirable object, it is your 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 129 

right and your duty to ask why he prescribes that and 
not another, and what tendency those means have to 
that end. It is your right and duty, because there are 
certain established laws of nature, according to which 
all things act and all causes operate, and no man can 
control these causes. Every substance has its fixed 
qualities, whereby it acts in a particular manner on 
other substances, and every man may be equally ac- 
quainted with them. Consequently, when a man tells 
you that certain operations will produce certain results, 
you have a right to hesitate and to inquire whether 
it be in accordance with the known laws of nature, 
and the known powers and qualities of the substances 
concerned. The only case where you may prop- 
erly decline such inquiry, is when, for want of pre- 
vious research, or on account of present feebleness of 
body or mind, and the pressing necessity of immediate 
action, you either act yourself in blindness, or entrust 
your case to another, in whose skill or ability yoii 
confide rather than jeopard a longer continuance of 
inaction. Yet the exception proves the rule. But 
when it is God that prescribes, the case is altogether 
different. Man is the subject of nature ; but God is 
nature's legislator ; and the laws which he gave to her, 
he can repeal, or suspend, or modify, at his pleasure. 
The promise of God connects cause and effect more 
indissolubly than any law of nature can. God has 
suspended the latter ; the former never. If that which 
he commands us to make use of as a means, has no 
natural tendency to secure the end, yet his omnipo- 
tence can give it such a tendency. If a man should 



130 SELECT REMAINS OP 

tell you that you may take fire into your bosom and not 
be burned, you are not to believe him, nor venture on 
the experiment ; for it is a known quality of fire to 
burn. But if God tells you the same, you may fear- 
lessly make the experiment ; because he who gives you 
the assurance, gave to fire its consuming quality, and 
to make his word good, can temporarily withdraw this 
destructive quality. Let this distinction be apprehend- 
ed. If, for instance, a man speaking in his own name, 
and at his own suggestion, had said to Naaman, the 
Syrian, " Wash, and thou shalt be clean," his refusing 
had been reasonable ; but the prophet who spake thus to 
him was an authorized ambassador of God, speaking as 
he was moved by the Holy Ghost. Thus the direction 
came from a Being, who is able to heal by one set of 
means as well as another, and as easily without means, 
or contrary to means, as with them. Apply this great 
principle to the means and institutions of the Gospel. 
You say they are not naturally adapted to produce the 
results for which they were appointed. The answer 
is, — no matter whether they are or not. The appoint- 
ment of God gives them all the adaptation that any 
law of nature could. They must accomplish the prom- 
ised effect, because He, under whose control all causes 
are, says that they shall. Ask you, of what use is 
the baptismal application of water to the body ? The 
answer is, — of no use by virtue of any law of nature, 
but of much use by virtue of its divine appointment. 
Ask you, of what use is the solemn stated partaking of 
bread and wine in remembrance of Jesus Christ 1 The 
answer is, He that can connect a blessing with the 






WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 131 

right partaking of it, and has enjoined it upon us, does 
bless it to us. Ask you, what pre-eminence has the 
hearing of a discourse in the public assembly, over even 
a better one read in private ] The answer is, — it may 
have none naturally, but God has given it a pre-emi- 
nence ; " For after that, in the wisdom of God, the 
world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the 
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." 
Say you, that ordinances, and doctrines, and external 
forms, are of no avail 1 ? Grant it, if men be their 
author ; but if they come from God, they possess the 
efficacy of the most active causes. 



DIVINITY OP CHRIST. 

There is in Revelations i, 5, 6, the highest ascription 
that can be made to any being, of eternal glory and 
everlasting dominion ; and Jesus Christ is the object of 
it. Would you not suppose, before instituting any 
inquiry into the dignity of the being to whom this 
tribute is rendered, that he was considered by the 
person rendering it, as really and essentially divine 1 
If John had considered Jesus as a mere creature, would 
he have rendered unto him glory and dominion ever- 
lasting 1 What more could he render to the Creator ? 
— to Jehovah 1 In what language would he express 



132 SELECT REMAINS OF 

the supremacy of the Father? In what loftier terms 
could he do him homage, than those which he had 
already employed in paying his adorations to the Son? 
He had none—he wanted none. He had before told 
us in his gospel, that it was right to "honor the Son, 
even as we honor the Father." 

A celebrated English Unitarian has had the bold- 
ness to say, that since Christ rose from the dead, and 
left the world, we know neither where he is, nor how 
he is employed. He may not know. But we know 
where our risen Saviour is, and we know what he is 
doing. He is in heaven, whither he passed, when he 
had, by himself, purged our sins, and set down on the 
right hand of the Majesty on high. Scriptures almost 
innumerable testify this. Where the glorious company 
of angels are, and the spirits of just men made perfect 
rejoice, and God, the judge of all, specially manifest 
himself; there too, is Jesus, the Mediator of the new 
Covenant, with the blood of sprinkling, the memorial 
of his sacrifice. There he reigns ; for him hath God 
highly exalted to be a prince as well as a Saviour. 
There he appears in the presence of God for us. 
Thither the forerunner hath for us entered. There he 
ever liveth to make intercession for us. If any man 
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 
Christ, the righteous. He said to his disciples, « it is 
expedient for you that I go away; I go to prepare a 
place for you ; and whither I go, ye know, and the 
way ye know." Do we not then know where Christ is, 
and how he is employed ? Having raised him from 
the dead, the Father set him at his own right hand in 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 133 

heavenly places — in the post of highest honor, author- 
ity and dignity, as the expression denotes. 

At the gracious invitation, " Come unto me, all ye 
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
rest," the despairing sinner, listening to every voice, 
and eagerly catching at every accent of mercy, lifts his 
streaming eyes almost with hope, anxious to know who 
is the personage that so earnestly and so affectionately 
gives the kind invitation. He looks, and behold! the 
crucified man Christ Jesus. The vision of his hopes is 
fled; he fastens his eyes on the earth, and in the agony 
of blasted expectation, he exclaims, " Come to thee, 
Jesus of Nazareth ! Thou, that wast born in a stable, 
and cradled in a manger ; who wast once a helpless 
infant, and afterwards a man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief, canst thou relieve my troubled conscience 1 
Thou, that hadst not even where to lay thy head, canst 
thou give rest to my laboring spirit 1 Thou, that wast 
forsaken of thy God, canst thou restore me to the favor 
of my offended Maker *? Thou, that didst die the ac- 
cursed death, canst thou give life to my dying soul ?" 
The voice is again heard ; the invitation is again 
repeated, " Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The sinner 
again lifts his eyes, and lo, the dazzling splendors of a 
risen God ! He that was once the babe of Bethlehem, 
now the ascended Lord and Saviour ; an helpless infant 
once, now the Omnipotent God; he that once conde- 
scended* to become poor for our sakes, now infinitely 
rich ; he that was once adjudged and condemned by 
wicked men, now set on the right hand of the Majesty 



134 SELECT REMAINS OF 

on high, to be the judge of men and angels ; and he 
that once died on the cross, now the dispenser of life to 
happy millions." Now the sinner, with tears of holy- 
penitence flowing from his eyes, and a blessed hope 
sustaining his soul, exclaims, Great is the mystery of 
godliness, — God manifest in the flesh. Jesus Christ 
was indeed a man, but he was a God too; and every 
awakened and convinced sinner feels that his Saviour 
must be a God. 

What if the world had been lost ! Who would have 
missed it ! Celestial spirits would have praised the jus- 
tice that condemned it. But the conception of redeem- 
ing mercy was infinitely above them. A lost world 
saved ! Tis a thought high as heaven ! A rebel world 
restored ! 'Tis deep as hell ! A God was as necessary 
to the contrivance as to the execution of the plan of 
redemption. To the wonder of creation, God came to 
consummate it. It is well that the bliss of the redeem- 
ed will never end ; for in this one mystery of redemp- 
tion, there is food enough to serve all heaven eternally. 
There is nothing so great, nothing so affecting in 
man's redemption, nothing which an angel would desire 
to look into, if a creature (I care not how vast his 
intellect, how bright his seraphic robe, how little short 
of omniscience his knowledge, how near almightiness 
his power,) could have girded himself for the work, and 
become the captain of salvation to us. The affecting 
thought is, that " the word was made flesh." 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 135 



LOVE OF CHRIST. 

If the Son of God had only sent us word by some 
spiritual messenger that he was our friend and loved 
us, there would have been much to admire in that. If 
he had only given us assurance that he would use his 
influence with the Father in our behalf; that he would 
mediate for us by intercession ; that would have been 
worthy of heartfelt gratitude. If he had just touched 
upon our world in some excursion of providence, and 
smiled upon it, and given it his blessing, how should 
the hearts of men have leaped for joy. If for years, 
he had only lived with us, and instructed us, and 
comforted us, and then gone up in glory through the 
heavens, who could have withstood such tenderness 
and love 1 But he did far more than all this. He did 
not merely send, he came ; he did not merely mediate 
by intercession, he mediated by sacrifice — self-sacrifice ; 
he not only lived for us, he died for us ; he died not a 
natural, but a violent death ; the death of a slave ; the 
accursed death ; a death preceded by scourging, mock- 
ing, and spitting. And as he went up the hill of Cal- 
vary, oppressed with his cross, his majestic brow was 
lacerated with the crown of thorns, and down his 
heavenly face ran the trickling blood ; and they nailed 
his hands and his feet roughly and cruelly to the tree. 
They ! Who 1 ? Why, men. He died by them for whom 
he died. There was no alleviation of his dying agony. 
No friend ministered to him ; no sympathy was felt for 



136 SELECT REMAINS OP 

him in all the assembled multitude of his murderers. 
'Twas all contempt and hatred. No voice was heard, 
but the voice of execration and blasphemy, and his 
voice in prayer for his murderers. And the light and 
smile of his Father's face were not with him. Oh, it 
was such a death, that when his divinely supported 
soul foresaw it, that soul, though thus strengthened, 
shrunk back in horror, and he prayed with such intense 
agony, that he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood : 
" Oh, spare me this, Father, if it be possible. Canst 
thou not, infinite and almighty Father '?" 

I never feel so dissatisfied with myself, as when the 
love of Christ is my theme ; thoughts are so low, and 
language is so cold. 

We want higher language, bolder thoughts, and 
larger hearts to come up to the love of Christ. " How 
low, how vain our mortal airs, when Gabriel's nobler 
harp despairs." There are no strings sweet enough to 
tell its tenderness, nor loud enough to tell its strength. 
To all our thoughts the height is inaccessible, the 
depth unfathomable, the breadth immeasurable. 

Shall we give to the Saviour in return for his love, 
and in view of his toils, his tears and his blood, less 
than our hearts — our whole hearts 1 No other gift is 
worthy of us or acceptable to him. It is not the plain- 
tive hymn expressive of his sorrows, nor the loud 
anthem to his name, nor holiday show of joy at his 
birth, which he delights in. The music of a grateful, 
contrite, and affectionate heart is what pleases him. 
Compared to this, the music of the spheres is dull and 
uninteresting to his holy ear. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 137 

In heaven, Parnassus may be forgotten — Calvary, 
never; Eden may fade from all memories — Gethsem- 
ane, from none. 



ATONEMENT. 

From the dreadful agony of Christ in the garden, 
may be drawn an argument for the doctrine of the 
atonement, which cannot be gainsaid, but by the bold 
avowal that Jesus Christ was a weak and pusillanimous 
man. If he was not bearing the weight of the punish- 
ment of the sins of the world, it was the fear of death 
alone that troubled him ; and in that case, he had not 
so much fortitude as many of his own disciples. Not 
only did he not suffer and die like a God, but he did 
not even suffer like a good and holy man in favor 
with God. He must have been bruised for our ini- 
quities. How can this conclusion be evaded 1 

There is but one safe character ; even that of holiness. 

So there is but one safe condition: that is in Christ. 

There is in the universe but one spot, which it is safe 

for a sinner to occupy. On every other spot the wrath 

of God is liable to descend and destroy him. That 

spot is the foot of the cross of Christ. That is a place 

of safety ; because the wrath of God has already come 

down and spent itself. There, there, only there, is 

safety for sinners. This is it, "Wherein he hath made 
12* 



138 SELECT REMAINS OF 

us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemp- 
tion through his blood." 

The Balm of Gilead is the only article in our materia 
medica. We prescribe that for every thing. " The 
blood of Christ doth still remain sufficient and alone." 

Behold, I show you a mystery. The robes of the 
redeemed are washed and made white in blood. With- 
out shedding of blood there is no remission and no sanc- 
tification. But what blood had the wondrous efficacy 1 
Not the blood of bulls and goats, but of the Son of 
God. Acts xx, 28. 

There is a mystery in Redemption, from which I 
know not if any finite mind shall ever return and be 
able to say, " I have found and have fathomed it." 
r The atonement is not merely a testimony to the 
severity of God's government, but also to the evil of 
sin. And it testifies not only to the reality, but to the 
magnitude of the evil, that required so great a remedy. 
How deep and foul the stain, which no tears could 
wash out, nor blood, save that of Christ. What malig- 
nity and mischief must there not be in that for which 
nothing short of the extremest sufferings of the Son of 
God could satisfy. How dreadful that penalty, under 
which that most powerful and illustrious personage 
writhed and bowed, and fell a victim to death. How 
will a feeble creature like one of us be able to sustain 
it ! He don't sustain it. See, he sinks down, down, 
for ever and for ever. The testimony which the atone- 
ment bears to the evil of sin, it bears to the evil of all 
sin in all men. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 139 

The Bible does not say, that without the pouring 
forth of prayers and a reformation of life, Ave could not 
be forgiven. Nor does it say that without the shedding 
of tears, there could be no pardon ; but " without the 
shedding of blood there is no remission." 

The most affecting of all scenes, the most extraordi- 
nary of all events, the mightiest of all transactions, was 
Christ's undertaking for sinners. In comparison with 
this, every transaction recorded in the history of time, 
is a trifle, — yea, it is as nothing. 

In regard to the extent of the atonement, I would just 
say, that it is so extensive, that none will ever be lost 
t by reason of any deficiency in it. It is as extensive as it 
need be ; so extensive, that on the ground of it, salva- 
tion is sincerely and freely offered to all ; so extensive, 
/ that if all should accept the offer, all would be saved. 
/ Is not this extensive enough 1 It is limited only in 
this sense, that it was made with a special reference to 
those who will be ultimately saved by it. The foun- 
dation is broad enough to receive every soul — all the 
souls of all men. And all the sins of all these souls, 
though they be very many and very great, Christ's 
blood has still efficacy to cleanse away. Therefore, let 
each one come to Christ, and secure to himself an 
interest in the atonement. Let this be the first anxiety 
— the first work. What should precede it in order of 
time 1 Doth any thing equal it in point of importance'? 



140 SELECT REMAINS OF 



CHRIST'S RESURRECTION. 

Is it a thing - incredible that God should raise the 
Saviour, because, forsooth, the philosophy of that brave 
little being that lives in a mud cottage, a house of clay, 
has objections to offer to the resurrection of the dead 1 
Must heaven suspend the everlasting song to the 
Lamb, until man is convinced that he is worthy of 
these honors 7 



CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

The history of our Saviour, throughout so luminous 
and interesting, increases in glory as it draws to its 
termination. The brightest page of his memoir is the 
last. And from the cross, where it was intended his 
life should go out in infamy, the moral glory of his 
character shines forth in its fullest effulgence. The 
things that were most remarkable on that day, were 
not the sun's withholding his light, nor the earth's 
trembling, nor the grave's disinterring its dead. There 
was a moral display more remarkable still, in the de- 
portment and language of the dignified sufferer. Who 
could witness it without saying, " Truly this was the 
Son of God?" 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 141 

Ah, the poor and the wretched know not what a 
friend they would find in Jesus, if they should betake 
themselves to him, else they would not delay as 
they do. 

When Jesus only wept at the grave of Lazarus, they 
said, " Behold how he loved him." With how much 
more force may we, who see his agony in the garden 
and his sufferings on the cross, exclaim, Behold how 
he loved us, even unto death ! 



WHAT A SAVIOUR! 

What Christian has not sometimes given expression 
to the feelings of his heart in some such language as 
this, " What a Saviour ! " That there should be to us, 
lost and ruined sinners, any Saviour, is marvellous 
mercy — is worthy of our highest admiration. But that 
there should be to us such a Saviour, is still more aston- 
ishing. I have thought that we might have had a 
Saviour, who should have been able to save us, and 
should have actually saved many, and yet not been 
such a Saviour as him we have. Less tender, less con- 
descending, less forbearing, I have thought he might 
have been, and yet have been a Saviour. Perhaps I 
have thought wrong. But certainly there is in the 
character of the blessed Jesus, much to draw forth the 
exclamation, " What a Saviour ! " 



142 SELECT REMAINS OP 

It seems as if Jesus had said more kind things, and 
done more kind acts, than were absolutely necessary to 
have been said and done by him. Need he have made 
that apology for his disciples — who could sleep when 
he was in his agony — " the spirit indeed is willing, but 
the flesh is weak?" I wonder how they could have 
slept in such an hour ; but I wonder more, at the 
apology their Master made for them. Need he have 
uttered that prayer on the cross, " Father forgive them, 
for they know not what they do'?" We don't expect 
such things from the innocent, when dying by the hand 
of violence. If he had maintained silence during these 
hours of inconceivable anguish, we should have been 
satisfied. But oh ! think of his forgetting himself, and 
when they were deriding and in every way insulting 
him, hear him meekly addressing his Father on their 
behalf, asking him to forgive them, and pleading for 
them that they knew not what they did. It was not 
necessary that he should have paid any visible attention 
to the supplication of the thief. It could not have been 
expected of him. But that he should have turned his 
head and looked such forgiveness and love, while he 
said, " This day, thou shalt be with me in paradise," 
is a strange mystery of love. 

"What a Saviour !" How wonderfully constituted ! 
He was God, as it was necessary he should be, and yet 
not merely God, but man too. A Saviour with two 
natures, one reaching up to God, the other down to us. 
How wonderful that he should not only have taken our 
nature, but come down to our condition, and surrounded 
himself with our circumstances, — become subject to 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 143 

such temptations as we are subject to : Oh, "What a 
Saviour ! " Why, he knows from experience, what pain 
is ; he has had the trials I have ; he has been through 
this vale of tears ; he knows how I am tried ; he re- 
members how he was tried. If he never smiled, yet 
he wept — even over the very city and people whose soil 
and hands were about to be stained with his blood. 

I wonder I love him so little ; I wonder he is not 
more precious to me ; I wonder any should be offend- 
ed in him. How can he appear a root out of a dry 
ground ! Why don't all see his form and comeliness % 



"I WOULD SEE JESUS." 

Because he is an infinitely lovely and an inexpressi- 
bly admirable object. All divine and human excel* 
lences meet and are beautifully blended in him. All 
that is amiable and all that is august unite in him. 
Who would not desire to behold such an object 1 

Because the divine character shines forth most con- 
spicuously in him. He is "the brightness of the 
Father's glory, and the express image of his person." 
"No man hath seen God at anytime; the only begotten 
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath 
declared him." And "he that hath seen the Son, hath 
seen the Father." For God, who commanded the light 
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to 



144 SELECT REMAINS OF 

give the light of the knowledge to the glory of God in 
the face of Jesus Christ." Even in heaven, "this Jeho- 
vah is the light thereof." 

Because a sight of him, especially a sight of him on 
the cross, reveals our sinfulness and guilt, and is calcu- 
lated to produce conviction. For, why was he there ! 
What made his agony and death necessary 1 What 
but our sins was it that oppressed his soul and nailed 
his body to the tree 1 Who can understandingly con- 
template the cross of Christ, and not feel that he is a 
sinner 1 Nor does it reveal merely the fact of our sin- 
fulness, but the evil of it also, as both odious and 
mischievous. For had it not been for the extreme 
malignity of sin, an atonement of such value would not 
have been necessary, a victim of such dignity would 
not have been required, nor such an amount of suffering 
exacted of him. He, for whom God's only begotten 
Son died, must not only be a sinner, but a great sinner, 
a sinner of great unworthiness ; and this is a necessary 
part of conviction. It is not enough that we be con- 
vinced we are sinners. We must also feel that we are 
great sinners, and that sin is a great evil. When we 
take this view of a crucified Saviour, then we see that 
there is no exaggeration in the language, which repre- 
sents us as having pierced him. And contemplating him 
as pierced by and for our sins, repentance follows ; as it 
is written, " They shall look on him whom they have 
pierced and mourn." And repentance is never so deep 
and bitter as when a sight of Christ crucified excites 
it. " They shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is 
in bitterness for a firstborn." Hence, 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. P. 145 

We should desire to see Jesus that we may repent ; 
and that we may be forgiven and saved ; for what, 
says he 1 " Look unto me, and be ye saved." " Behold 
the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the 
world." To look to Christ, is to believe on him and 
confide in him. With this confidence, salvation is 
always connected. What a wonderful scheme is this ! 
That the same object, a sight of which, produces con- 
viction, produces repentance also, and procures pardon. 
We look, and see ourselves sinners ; we look, and 
mourn ; we look, and are saved. 

A view of Christ is transforming and sanctifying ; 
" for we all beholding as in a glass the glory of the 
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to 
glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." " God forbid, that I 
should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the 
world." 

We see in Christ the example after which we are 
required to walk. " For if any man have not the Spirit 
of Christ he is none of his." "Let this mind be in 
you, which was also in Christ Jesus." A Christian is 
/ nothing else but a follower or imitator of Christ. He 
exemplified all that we are required to be, or do, or 
suffer. What ought to be our deportment towards God 
and towards men — how we ought to treat friends and 
enemies — bear injuries and requite favors — Avhat ought 
to be the character, the aim, the efforts, and the sac- 
rifices of our benevolence, are matters on which we 
get full information by looking to Jesus, as the perfect 
model. 

13 



146 SELECT REMAINS OF 

Looking to him, you get ability to conform to his 
example, precepts, and image ; you get patience and 
strength to run the race set before you ; you are able, 
through him strengthening you, to do all things. 

Other reasons might still be added. Looking to 
Jesus, you see the most amazing exhibition of love, — 
you see a silent declaration of God's unwillingness that 
sinners should perish, when, for the sake of sparing 
them, he spared not his own Son. 

If you have seen, look again, look continually, never 
lose sight of him ; do not merely glance your eye on 
him, but fix your gaze upon him. A transient glimpse 
of Christ will give a gleam of hope and peace; for 
abiding confidence and consolation, we must habitually 
look upon him. By an hour's entrance to him, you 
cannot get light and warmth to last you a day. We 
must habitually look upon him. All your darkness, 
doubts, and discomforts, arise from losing sight of 
Christ. Perhaps you lose sight of him in looking too 
much to yourself. That is not the quarter, whence 
help is to come. Always say, " I would see Jesus." 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 147 



"HE IS ABLE TO SAVE TO THE 
UTTERMOST." 

To the uttermost, in respect to the number of applicants. 
It is no matter how many come to him, he is able to 
save them all. Should all mankind agree to come, 
(blessed agreement !) or were the population of the 
earth many times multiplied, and they all should apply, 
he would save that countless company with the same 
ease as he can a single individual. His righteousness 
is capable of being applied to any number. The effi- 
cacy of his atonement can, not only not be exhausted, 
but is incapable of diminution. The care of such a 
multitude, as has been just supposed to come to him, 
would not distract him ; and the weight of such a 
charge as the salvation of the whole would not weary 
him. There would be no danger of any one being 
overlooked, or unheard, or unprotected ; for his eye, and 
ear, and arm, are everywhere. No matter how long 
this world may last, and how great a multitude every 
generation of it may contribute to the kingdom of 
heaven ; when the last invitation shall have been sent 
forth, and the last guest shall have entered in, still 
there will be room. 

To the uttermost, in respect of the character of the 
applicants. It is no matter how great the guilt, how 
many and black the crimes, and how deep the depravity 
of any one ; Christ can save him as easily as if his guilt 
were less, and his crimes fewer in number and lighter 



148 SELECT REMAINS OF 

in color ; for such virtue has his blood, that whatever 
stain it touches, it instantaneously removes. Let all 
hear it : " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from 
all sin;" i. e., from sin of every kind, of every degree, of 
every aggravation. It makes no difference what species 
of sins you may have been distinguished for, — whether 
they have been sins of impiety, or injustice, or intem- 
perance, or inhumanity ; though you should have dis- 
regarded God, rejected his Son, and grieved his Spirit, 
as well as injured your fellow creatures, and abused 
your own soul and body : nor does it matter under 
what aggravations you have sinned, what light you 
have shut your eyes upon, what motives you have 
resisted, and what privileges and means you have 
abused ; nor for how many years you have persisted 
in sin and hardened yourself against God ; though you 
should have grown gray in iniquity, and your sins have 
brought you almost to the grave, — provided only that 
you will come to God by Christ Jesus. These things 
will indeed mightily aggravate and enhance your con- 
demnation, if you remain unbelieving ; but if you 
apply to Christ, they shall be no obstacles in the way 
of your being saved by him. He is able to save the 
greatest sinners, and as willing to save them as any 
others ; so that there is nothing more unscriptural and 
antievangelical, than to give as a reason for not going 
to Christ, that your sins are very many and very great. 
Admit that they are mighty as mountains, numerous 
as the stars, and red as scarlet, do they transcend the 
virtue of his blood and the efficacy of his Spirit 1 Has 
the world bound you by such a chain, that the revealed 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 149 

loveliness of Jesus Christ cannot break the spell] Has 
Satan riveted his chains so fast upon you that the Re- 
deemer's almighty arm cannot tear them off? Can you 
say of that love, that brought him down and bore him 
through, that hitherto it goes, but no further, and that 
you are beyond its utmost reach 1 What if your case be 
a peculiar one, (though there is no reason to believe 
that it is, and you think so, only because you are not 
acquainted with other cases, and every convinced sinner 
thinks he has reason to regard his case as peculiar,) 
what if it be the very worst case that was ever laid 
before the Saviour, according to the principles of the 
Gospel, it is altogether immaterial. Is not Christ fully 
equal to it 1 But some one will say, " Is there not, 
however, one kind of sin that is unpardonable, and one 
description of transgressors, for whom there remaineth 
no sacrifice 1 What if I have the guilt of that sin on 
my soul 1 Is not here an exception 1 Can Christ do 
any thing for me, if this be my case 1 And I know not 
but it is?" We say that the fact of your asking such 
questions and indulging such thoughts, is proof suffi- 
cient that you have not committed that sin. And we 
say furthermore, that if the blasphemer of the Holy 
Ghost were to come to God through Christ, Christ 
would be competent to save him : but this supposition 
can never become matter of fact ; for the sin in ques- 
tion, involves a malignant and determined rejection of 
Christ. So that to ask if such a person can be saved, 
is the same as to ask if he can be saved who obsti- 
nately perseveres in refusing the only method and 
means of salvation. It is the same as to ask whether 
13* 



150 SELECT REMAINS OF 

the finally impenitent can be saved. Of course he 
cannot. But the reason after all is, that he will not. 

To the uttermost. Consider it as having reference to 
the perfection of salvation. He can save completely. 
He can do all that is necessary to be done. He is able 
to carry on and consummate the work he commences. 
He does not perform one part of it, and leave the rest 
to be performed by others, or to be left unperformed. 
Whenever he begins to build, he shows himself able to 
finish. He is equal to the whole work. From the love, 
and the pollution, and the power of sin, he can deliver, 
as well as from its guilt. He can sanctify those whom 
he forgives. There are not only robes of righteousness 
with him, but treasures of wisdom, and the influence 
that purifies. He can remove every temptation, or if 
it seem better to him, give grace to withstand it. He 
can support under every trial — can relieve in every ex- 
tremity — is prepared for every emergency — is able to 
deliver from every sorrow, and to pluck from every hos- 
tile hand. For them that come to God by him he reigns, 
for them he pleads. He is all-powerful as a king-, and 
all-prevailing as an intercessor. All his people are 
taught of God. He has said that sin shall not have 
dominion over them, and he is able to make it good. 
He can, and agreeably to his promise he will, shortly 
bruise Satan under their feei. O believer, whatever 
difficulties you labor under, whatever temptations ha- 
rass you, whatever sins oppress you, whatever griefs 
afflict you, Christ has power to remove them all. Apply 
to him. He is able to save to the uttermost. To them 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 151 

that believe, he is of God made wisdom, and righteous- 
ness, and sanctification, and redemption. 

Finally, consider this language as having respect to 
duration: — to the uttermost; i. e., for ever. He is able to 
save as long as he liveth, and he is " alive for ever 
more." However protracted your pilgrimage on earth, 
and however wearisome and tedious the road you 
travel, he is able to lead and defend you. Besides, he 
can pluck out the sting of death, and take away the 
terror of the grave. He has power to keep securely 
the spirit that is commended to him. And while the 
body lies mouldering in its dark and dreary receptacle, 
his eye watches it, until " the word of his power" shall 
raise it. He is able to unite again the divorced parts, 
and to introduce the complete persons of all his redeem- 
ed into the place and society which he has prepared for 
them ; where, with a hand that can never tire, and from 
a fulness that can never be exhausted, he can and he 
will bless and continue to bless them, in a way and to 
an extent beyond the power of thought to conceive. 
Never, throughout eternity, will his love cool, or his 
resources fail. Nor shall there be the sense of want, 
or the fear of change, or the apprehension of an end, 
felt in any bosom of all that shall beat with ecstasy 
about his throne. " He is able to save to the utter- 
most," — even with everlasting salvation. 



52 SELECT REMAINS OF 



IMITATION OF CHRIST. 

It is an important inquiry, — Have Christ's doctrines 
assimilated us to him 1 Have we learned of him, not 
only that meekness, humility, and heavenly minded- 
ness, are among the characteristic virtues of Christian- 
ity, but to be actually meek, and lowly, and heavenly 
minded 1 

The disciple must be, not as his fellow disciple, but 
as his Master. So far as any character is the standard, 
it is his. To be like him should be our aim, and not 
to be like any fellow creature, except as we may discern 
the image of Christ in him ; and then it is not so much 
to be like the copy, as like the original. It is painful, 
not to say disgusting, to hear one affirm that he would 
be quite content to be as good as such or such a 
person. It is making a man the model, and not the 
Saviour. He is contemplating and admiring derived 
and imperfect loveliness, when he ought to be gazing 
on one that is altogether and essentially lovely. 

If any acknowledge the general obligation to imitate 
Christ, how can they escape from the obligation "to 
go about doing good to all men, as they have oppor- 
tunity'?" 

No man ever happened to be like Christ. None ever 
accidentally acquired his image. Such a result proceeds 
from a two-fold design ; first, a design on God's part, 
granting the Spirit to work in man ; and then a design 
on the sinner's part, to be a follower of God. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 153 



REJECTION OF CHRIST. 

Know thou, O sinner, that thou hadst better have on 
thee all the crimes of all the sinners that have ever 
lived, and better if thy soul were dyed through and 
through with deepest crimson, than that thou shouldst 
go from this world, bearing the guilt of the blood of 
Jesus. 

The song of joy from heaven has never been answer- 
ed by a general shout of gratitude from earth. Only 
a few faint voices from the low places of the earth 
have responded to the loud concert of angels. 

There is in the human heart one thing that vibrates 
to the touch of generosity. Then when the hand of God 
strikes it, why does it not vibrate 1 There is a power 
of being excited with what is disinterested in kindness 
and generous in affection, and God has addressed it in 
the exhibition he has made of his Son as dying for 
sinners. Greater love and more generous hath no man 
ever shown to man than this. Men doubt its story ; 
and marble is not more cold, and unmoved, and void 
of affection. There is hope, and God has revealed to 
it all the everlasting glories of heaven ; yet tales of 
oriental extravagance produce as much effect. There 
is fear ; and God has drawn his sword, and knit his 
brow, and thundered vengeance with his voice, but all 
in vain. Men have ears quick to hear every word, but 
that which comes charged with the voice of God. They 
have minds prudent to calculate, and hearts prone to 



154 SELECT REMAINS OF 

feel on every subject but one. The result of all this 
insensibility is the wicked rejection of the only help 
and Saviour. 



WRATH OF THE LAMB. 

Though conscious of personal wickedness, a man 
may contemplate, with comparative quietness of mind, 
such a truth as that, " God is angry with the wicked 
every day." He will tremble indeed, but need not be 
in despair, for he can think of One, who can screen 
him from that indignation. But how dreadful to 
contemplate, "the wrath of the Lamb!" Who can 
screen the guilty from that? There is a Mediator 
between the offending sinner and the angry God, and 
there is his hope ; but who shall mediate between him 
and the offended Mediator 1 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. J55 



WORK OF THE SPIRIT. 

Nothing- proves the necessity of the influences of the 
Holy Ghost so clearly as the insensibility of men in 
regard to the character of Christ, especially as exhibit- 
ed in his inconceivable suffering's. 

Although there be in the administration of grace 
several influences and agencies, without which the 
Church would not be built up, yet there is but one 
agency by whose efficiency piety is kept alive. That 
agency is exerted by the divine Spirit. 

What a noble product of Omnipotence is a Christian ! 
He is God's last work. The difference between a mere 
man and a Christian, should be greater than that be- 
tween dust and man. The results of the new creation 
ought to be strikingly visible. 

The first creation makes us God's, and constitutes 
reason enough why we should devote ourselves to him, 
and live alone to him. But the second creation im- 
measurably strengthens the obligation. God has made 
all things for himself; but in a more solemn sense 
has he formed his people for himself. 

One might almost as well be guilty of the atheism 
of denying he was made by God, as that he was made 
for God. 

Whatever we have from Christ meritoriously, we 
have from the Spirit efficaciously. 



156 SELECT REMAINS OF 



ANGELS. 



The emotion of joyful surprise among the angelic 
hosts must have been strong at the first announcement 
of the intended recovery of any of the race of men by the 
Lord's taking pity, where they had thought he must 
take vengeance. 

If it is not wonderful that the prophets, who were, 
as sinners, personally interested in what they were 
inspired to foretel, should inquire and search diligently 
concerning this salvation; neither is it so surprising 
that angels, whose nature prompts them to sympathize 
in whatever displays the glory of God, or promotes the 
welfare of their fellow beings, should desire to look 
into these things, and that they should turn from the 
mysteries of creation and providence, to contemplate 
the yet deeper mysteries of redemption. They, who 
celebrated man created, should raise yet loftier their 
songs for man saved. 



ADAM OUR FEDERAL HEAD. 

Suppose we say, as some do, that men were not 
represented in Adam, for that were unjust ; but that in 
consequence of their connexion with him, they neces- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 157 

sarily derive from him his own moral nature, which is 
corrupt; for "who can bring a clean thing out of an 
unclean 1" How does this help the matter 1 Surely it 
is as correct to constitute one man the representative of 
all, as, without doing this, to entail on them all the con- 
sequences of sin. Besides, who but God constituted this 
natural connexion between the first man and his pos- 
terity 1 And is he not responsible for its necessary re- 
sults ] Could he not have terminated the race with 
the first man of it 1 This theory makes our ruin the 
consequence of the misfortune of our being descended 
from Adam; w T hich misfortune our Maker could have 
easily prevented. This is getting out of one difficulty, 
by getting into a greater. 

If we have not a sinful nature, we might as well 
have one, as have a nature which begins to sin as soon 
as it begins to act. 



MAN. 

The history of the human species is characterized by 
every thing that is magnificently great and moment- 
ously interesting. In particular, every thing relating 
to his redemption is in the highest style of God. Man 
has been loved of God in a manner and to an extent 
which no other creatures have ; with a love not only 
superior to every other, but perfectly singular in its 
14 



158 SELECT REMAINS OF 

kind. There was never before any such thing as God 
loving sinners, God dying for his enemies, and saving 
the guilty through the sacrifice of himself. There has 
never transpired in any world, among any creatures, 
half so strange, stupendous, and universally interesting 
event, as the death on Calvary ; no such deep, dreadful 
crime has been committed by any being, as the killing 
of the Prince of life by man. And yet out of that very 
deed, has come salvation to the very race of beings that 
so wickedly did it. 

Never put a heavy man to raise a sinking cause. 

The wicked of earth, have at last, in one thing, 
outdone their elder brethren of the darker world. The 
devil has an utter enmity to religion, but man, worse 
herein than he, has a sovereign contempt for it. The 
devil hates godliness, but it is not in him to laugh at it. 
His remembrance of heaven has not so faded away. 
It is left unto men alone, to make game of prayer, and 
to mock praise, and to have a laugh out of the character 
of him who fears God. 

There is no man, who is really worthless and des- 
picable ; the most dull, the most degraded, the most 
depraved of mankind, retains that about him, which 
must lift him above contempt. Take the man, who, 
if possible, unites the mental imbecility of the idiot, 
with the moral depravity of the most accomplished 
villain, yet admit him to be accountable, and the 
particulars in which this man differs from others, con- 
siderable as they are in themselves, are as nothing to 
those in which he agrees with others, who are not the 
children of God. He still holds all the great things 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 159 

in common with the more intelligent and the less 
depraved. The poorest slave, the meanest beggar, 
the foulest wretch, is a man ; and to be a man, 
is infinitely more than to be a great man or a wise 
man. God is his maker. His nature was taken into 
union with the divine nature. An immortal spirit 
resides in him. The inspiration of the Almighty gave 
him breath. If he is a fallen creature, so are you. 
Christ died for him as much as for you. To him, as to 
you, a crown of everlasting life is offered as earnestly 
and as freely, and no more, without price. Why then 
dost thou set at nought thy brother*? 

We know of nothing more opposite to the spirit of 
the divine law, or more offensive to the Most High, 
than haughty and contemptuous treatment of our 
fellow men. 



THE SOUL. 



Ah, it is enough to break the heart, to see for how 
mean and miserable a consideration, men barter away 
their eternal all — for what a worthless vanity they 
sacrifice their heaven — at what a paltry price they sell 
the hope of the soul. Souls are cheap, for the market is 
glutted. Let intemperance, debauchery, vanity, world- 
liness, and ambition, say what they give for souls, and 
men will be amazed at how cheap a rate all is parted 
with. 



160 SELECT REMAINS OF 

You have often heard discourses on the worth of the 
soul. They are generally unsatisfactory. The text 
which they are usually founded upon, is better than 
many sermons : "What is a man profited," &c. 

There are some hopefully good people, that are in 
the habit of speaking lightly, and with apparent reck- 
lessness, of this person as living, and of that person as 
having died without religion. This I believe, but I 
cannot laugh over it; and God forgive me, if I have 
ever spoken lightly of it. It is so awful a thing to live 
without religion, and so inexpressibly dreadful to die 
without it, that it strikes me we had better be entirely 
silent about the dead, and speak softly of the living. 
Oh, do you reflect upon the consequences of living 
and dying without religion 1 Who that considers the 
worth of the soul, who that thinks of its sublime intel- 
ligence, and its great and growing capacities for pleas- 
ure and pain, and its eternity, can contemplate even 
the probability of its loss, without the solemnity of the 
grave upon his spirit 1 



HUMAN ACCOUNTABILITY. 

If men neither make nor maintain themselves, on 
what principle can they claim to be their own. You 
call that your own, which you have taken from the 
desert and since nourished. You call that yours, of 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 161 

which you have only altered the form. If that is thine, 
whose art thou, that art in matter, and form, and mind, 
Jehovah's 1 

Whether God regard his own honor or our happiness, 
he cannot demand less of us, than that whatever we 
do, we do all to his glory. 

No ingenuous spirit would wish to be released from 
so sweet an obligation as results from that glorious fact, 
" Ye are bought with a price." 

That man who supposes that he is not under obliga- 
tions to do any thing for which he cannot show an 
express command in so many words in the Bible, nor 
to abstain from any thing but what is literally and 
specifically forbidden in the book of the law of the 
Lord, has adopted a rule of conduct as false in principle 
as it will be fatal in effect. 

When God asks the question, "What could have 
been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done 
in it V he gives them the privilege of answering it, if 
they can, in any way to diminish obligation. 

Disinclination to duty is no excuse for its neglect. 
The deeper the disinclination the greater the guilt. If 
the disinclination be invincible, it, so far from severing 
obligation, makes its subject most guilty of all ; else 
perfection in wickedness at last binds a man in in- 
nocency. 

Methinks the greatest guilt a man can contract, is in 
bringing guilt on another ; and the greatest injury we 
can do to another, is to persuade him to injure himself. 

Did you never hear it said, in reference to something 

manifestly wrong, or of questionable propriety, "Why, 
14* 



162 SELECT REMAINS OF 

if I did not do it, somebody else would, and I might as 
well reap the profit of it as he." Miserable morality ! 
Stupid attempt at exculpation ! 

In vain do men attempt to destroy responsibility by 
dividing it. Yet they do attempt it. How common 
is the remark, that a corporation or board of managers 
will together, do acts, which no individual of them 
would think of doing in his private capacity. 

There is no room for agency in religion. In this 
every man must be his own factor. No ministry or 
priesthood can successfully manage for thee the affairs 
of thy soul. Thou must repent, and believe, and love 
for thyself. The very thought that any of these may 
be done by another for thee is absurdity. The grand 
responsibility to God, no man can transfer to another. 
No being can ever share it with us. Even the media- 
tion of Christ, so far from impairing, heightens personal 
responsibility. Therefore the apostle says, " Let every 
man prove his own works, and then shall he have re- 
joicing in himself and not in another ; for every man 
shall bear his own burden." 



PERFECTION. 

Against the doctrine of sinless perfection in man in 
this life, there lie two serious objections. The first is, 
that it is not proven by the Bible. Where is the text ? 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 163 

The other is, that there is, if possible, still less proof of 
it in actual life. Where is the example 1 Give us the 
text, — give us the man. 



SIN. 

There is no innocent way of becoming guilty, and no 
just method of being unjust. 

There is no such losing business one ever engages in 
as sinning against God. Its pleasures, for it has them, 
are but for a season ; its pains are forever ; its profit is 
partial and soon exhausted ; its loss is entire and 
irretrievable. 

It is better to starve than to sin for a sustenance. 

It is no less fiendish than foolish to make a mock 
at sin. 

Men who profess to believe the Scripture history of 
Jesus Christ, and yet plead for the unoffending inno- 
cence of human nature, and deny the vicarious nature 
of Christ's sufferings, must believe their Maker not 
only unjust but cruel. For here stands the fact, that 
an innocent and holy being has been in the world, 
subjected to the most intense agonies, and to the most 
excruciating death, not for himself, but in behalf of 
men. When did God permit even one of the holy 
angels in his visit to earth to be a sufferer'? Never. 
But by the order of Providence, and under the eye of 



164 SELECT REMAINS OF 

heaven, pains were inflicted on Him, the innocent. Must 
it not have been for us, the guilty ? Shall we arraign 
infinite wisdom's plan, and infinite mercy's work, for 
the removal of a curse from a world in death, merely to 
save the reputation of poor human nature 1 Rather let 
us rejoice that " Christ hath once suffered for sin, the 
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." 
Let as plead guilty, that we may be justified, and cry 
unclean, unclean, that we may wash in the fountain 
opened, and be clean. 

Sin being the cause of all other evils, they can be 
removed only by the removal of it. This is the plan 
of the Gospel. It strikes at the root of evil. It con- 
cerns itself about sin. Christ came to put away sin. 
The Gospel proposes to make men happy, only by 
making them holy. 

How absurdly they act, who seek enjoyment in sin, 
when, but for sin, there would have been nothing but 
enjoyment. 

Tilings, in themselves trifles, cease to be such, when 
commanded by God. The law of God dignifies every- 
thing that is introduced into it. 

The particulars in which some sins are distinguished 
from others are unimportant, in comparison with those 
in which all sins agree. Every sin is a transgression 
of the law of God, and an act of rebellion against 
his government. Every sin opposes and offends God. 
Every sin pollutes the soul. Every sin is mortal, de- 
structive of the happiness, and subversive of the recti- 
tude of the soul that commits it. There is no sin, the 
guilt of which can be removed by any thing short of 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 165 

the blood of the divine Saviour ; and the defilement of 
which, can be taken away by any other power than 
that of the Holy Spirit. 

He who breaks God's law, does in effect invade and 
assail the happiness of the universe, and does what he 
can to spread ruin and death over the creation. He 
lends his aid to the production of all the vast accumula- 
tion of evils that afflict our race — helps on the cause 
of destruction and misery, and in a manner, blows the 
fires of hell into an intense fervency. Well may every 
sinner exclaim, " What have I done 1 " 

Many who are afraid to walk the road to hell, are yet 
ashamed to take the road to heaven. 

It is not so much the particular sins a man commits, 
that create and aggravate guilt, as the circumstances 
under which he commits them. The greater guilt of 
the people of Capernaum, over that of the people of 
Sodom, grew out of the fact that they sinned under 
circumstances more favorable to the cultivation of piety 
and virtue. 

The moral aspect of a community or an individual is 
no certain criterion by which the depravity and guilt of 
that community or individual can be determined. Who 
would have supposed the moral and sober people of the 
cities which the Saviour upbraided, more guilty than 
the cities of the plain, if Christ had not told us they 
were 1 Yet his word assures us of the fact. So in 
the judgment day, many human judgments will be 
reversed. 



166 SELECT REMAINS OF 



SINNERS. 



That there is a conviction of guilt upon the universal 
mind of man, we cannot have a more satisfactory proof, 
than in the fact that there has never been on the face 
of the earth, a religion which has not supposed man a 
sinner, and exposed to the vengeance of his Maker, 
and never a religion whose rites have been entirely 
eucharistic and not deprecatory. 

A man cannot be a sinner, without being a great 
sinner ; for great is the Being offended, great the au- 
thority disregarded, great the light resisted, great the 
benefits despised, and great the penalty incurred. No 
man was ever truly convinced of sin, who was not con- 
vinced that he was a great sinner. 

Admitting that ordinary sinners, not professing Chris- 
tianity, shall not, other things being equal, be as guilty, 
or suffer as much, as the insincere professor, what of 
that 1 They yet contract guilt — great guilt — guilt that 
will inevitably and deeply drown them, if they continue 
as they are. And is not this enough to silence self- 
gratulations. What if the depth to which they shall 
sink in perdition is not, by a few feet, so profound, as 
the faithless professor will find ! What if there shall 
be two or three degrees of difference in the intensity of 
the flame that shall burn within and around them ! 
Is that any thing to boast of and to be pleased with 1 

In how sad a dilemma is every sinner, until he sur- 
renders himself, without reserve, to the authority of 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 167 

Jesus Christ. If he does not vow, he sins ; and if he 
merely vows, he sins yet more. If he withholds his 
children from baptism, he sins ; and yet he cannot, 
remaining as he is, have them properly baptized, with- 
out sinning. If he refrains from the Lord's supper, he 
sins ; and if he comes to it, he sins. And nothing can 
extricate him from this dilemma, but his becoming a 
real penitent and a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ. 

How melancholy the thought that many are growing 
worse ; first, because there is so much need of their 
getting better ; and secondly, because such rare advan- 
tages for becoming better are enjoyed ; and thirdly, 
because earth is the only place, and life the only season 
for affecting any change from bad to good. 

The bondage of sin over the soul, is like the bondage 
of death over the body ; and the sleep of sin, like the 
sleep of death, requires a blast from a trumpet, even 
mightier than the archangel's, to break its power. 

The soul may be for a long time so embalmed in 
moral virtues, as apparently to preserve it from being 
highly offensive, yet not being alive unto God, it is 
dead, and corruption must sooner or later be dreadfully 
manifest. 



168 SELECT REMAINS OF 



FOLLY OF SIN 



The man of the world, equally with any other man, 
is an immortal, and shall never die. He shall always 
think, and feel, and be happy or miserable ; and yet 
his plans, his pursuits, and his provisions, have reference 
only to the mortal. His is the folly of the man who 
should put to sea on the voyage of a year, with the bare 
sustenance of a day ; or of the caravan which should 
attempt the crossing of the desert with a single can of 
water. Whatever he is seeking, be it the world's 
wealth, or the world's admiration, or pleasure, it is a 
provision only for the life that now is. His gold has 
no currency beyond the grave ; his distinctions are 
not recognized there ; his pleasures perish with him. 
When he cometh to that dividing stream, he finds that 
every thing he possesses is contraband, and cannot even 
be smuggled into eternity. Naked and destitute as a 
newborn child he goes. "We brought nothing into 
the world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing 
out." 

As to those gay and happy creatures, into whose 
reckoning the pleasures of God and devotion do not 
enter, it is but to alter their circumstances a little, and 
they become dull and miserable. It is but to bid them 
away from the field of their customary amusements, 
and to introduce them to a spiritual world, and they 
are sad, and forlorn, and wretched. They shall be 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 169 

happy so long as the playhouse opens its inviting doors 
— so long as the gay and bright assembly holds out its 
most beguiling charms — so long as the fashion, and 
glitter, and imposing pomp of the world remain to 
them. Let the recess, brought in by death, come to 
these things, and perfect misery is the necessary result. 
He who digs for wealth, ought to know that every 
ounce of earth he throws up, is excavated from his own 
grave ; and he, of pallid look, that sits hour after hour, 
studying for the crown of literary distinction, that the 
very lamp, by which he labors for the prize, is fed by 
the precious oil of life, that will soon be all wasted 
away ; and the man that dashes through dust and 
blood, in the fierce pursuit of military glory, knows weJi 
that his struggle is in the field of death, and that often 
it is the cold hand of death that puts the wreath of 
glory on his brow. Yet is their folly not cured. 



DEPRAVITY. 

The power of sin is such, that without divine aid, 
the profligate would not forsake his debaucheries, 
though a mysterious finger should write his condem- 
nation in letters of flame before him, and add eternity 
in capitals ; and the drunkard, when he feels the burn- 
ing sensation of thirst at his breast, will, for the quiet- 
ing of that sensation, deliberately barter the world, yea, 
15 



170 SELECT REMAINS OF 

the hope of eternal life for a cup, whose dregs he knows 
to be death and hell. We hear men say, they don't 
think God ever made a being to damn him, while 
they are doing all they can to damn themselves. 

It is not recorded of Christ that he ever smiled. Yet 
sinners, unpardoned sinners, smile in the face of a 
frowning God, and with the gloomy prospect of an 
undone eternity before them. How strange ! 

It is melancholy enough to see a fellow-immortal 
doing that which we know he will hereafter wish he 
had not done ; but to see him doing that which he him- 
self knows, at the time of doing it, he will wish he had 
not done — nay more, to see him doing that which he 
intends hereafter to wish he had not done, this is some- 
thing more than melancholy. What is it but the most 
extravagant infatuation, that would deserve to be only 
pitied, were it not that in being voluntary, it merits to 
be most severely condemned. What a use is this to 
make of the immortal mind ; how dishonoring to the 
Maker of it ; how disreputable to the mind itself! 

If the question should be put to the vote, on the 
principle of universal suffrage, the Christian life would 
be voted out as unworthy and absurd. In like manner 
would the ballot of the great, and noble, and learned, 
and fair, decide it. They have done so ; and where 
Christ has not been persecuted out of the world, he ha3 
always been excluded from the court, the cabinet, and 
the drawing-room. 

I suppose that if a belief of the clearest demonstra- 
tion in Euclid's Elements, rendered a holy life neces- 
sary, there are many who would never be able to 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 171 

perceive the conclusiveness of the reasoning by which 
it is established. 

The natural man has indeed sense, and judgment, 
and affections ; but his senses discern not spiritual 
objects, his judgment approves them not, his affections 
fix not upon them. He has no ears to listen to the 
words of eternal life, no eyes to see the glory of religion, 
no voice to give utterance to prayer and praise, no taste 
for spiritual enjoyments. Perception he has, but not 
of the things of the Spirit ; memory also, but it receives 
not the impressions of divine truth ; imagination, but 
the beauties and sublimities of religion cannot interest 
it. He feels a sense of obligation, but not towards 
God ; he is susceptible of the emotions of gratitude, 
but not for those gifts that came down from heaven ; he 
can feel concern, but not for the things which belong 
to his everlasting peace. He can be agitated by fear 
and excited by hope ; but in vain do the realities be- 
yond the grave address themselves to these passions of 
the human heart. He has a heart all emotion, but a 
Saviour's love cannot move it. He can sorrow for 
every thing but sin ; can rejoice in every thing but the 
Gospel ; can study with delight every subject but re- 
demption ; can be made happy more easily by any 
object than God. On him he leans not for support ; to 
him he flies not for refuge ; from him he asks no coun- 
sel in difficulty ; to him he seeks not for consolation in 
trouble. 

Tie who is unregenerate, has refused to be illumina- 
ted by the most brilliant of all lights, or melted by the 
most blessed of all influences, or healed by the most 



172 SELECT REMAINS OF 

sovereign of all medicines, or redeemed by the most 
precious of all prices. 

Human nature demands more than illumination ; 
otherwise our sins are only sins of ignorance ; the 
periods of greatest light, would be the periods of the 
most singular virtue ; and the beet instructed in their 
duty, would be the most careful to do it. But this is 
by no means the case. The advancement of knowl- 
edge is not the promotion of religion. To teach men is 
not to reform them. The path of duty does not become 
pleasant merely from being strongly lighted. There 
must evidently be a new disposition in men ere they 
will obey God. As instruction will not reform men, so 
neither will persuasion, the accumulation of motives, 
and the presenting of them in the most clear and forci- 
ble manner, with the greatest urgency, and the warm- 
est and tenderest expostulation, accomplish the desired 
object. 



TOTAL DEPRAVITY. 

Some object to the phrase total depravity, as express- 
ing the moral condition of men. But that phrase, 
though technical and definite, is not so strong as the 
language of Scripture. There we are said to be " dead 
in trespasses and sins." The phrase means much, but 
what? Why, that men by reason of sin are the 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 173 

subjects of death. There is an animal life ; they are 
not dead with respect to that. There is an intellectual 
life ; but they are not dead in reference to that. The 
highest, happiest, noblest species of life, is spiritual life. 
They are destitute of that. Thus they are dead. That 
life is not languishing in them. It is extinct. They 
are not dying. They are dead in trespasses and sins ; 
wholly destitute of spiritual life ; altogether without 
holiness ; having no love to God ; for that life is love. 
It is certainly implied in this expression that the moral 
condition of men is hopeless, but for divine interposition. 
There is no power can reach a case of death, but God's 
only. A man, by human means and ministrations, may 
be brought back from the very state of dying ; but 
when death has supervened, these means are vain. 
The least lingering spark may be so cherished, and 
fanned, and fed, as at length to burn up in a blaze ; but 
if that spark goes out, it- can be restored only from 
heaven. Now men are dead. Their case requires 
vivification, resurrection. Therefore God alone can 
reach it. The Christian character, that which renders 
one meet for heaven, is not any improvement of the 
native character, but a substitution of a new and differ- 
ent character. You must become not barely a better 
man than you naturally are, for that would imply that 
there is some native goodness ; but you must become 
another and a different man. God says, " A new heart 
will I give you, and I will take away the stony heart 
out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh." 
Where then is the validity of the objection to the 

phrase, "total depravity'"? Who would not as readily 
15* 



174 SELECT REMAINS OF 

have a friend say of him, " thou art totally depraved," 
as "thou art dead in trespasses and sins]" If God 
insists on a new heart, must it not be because the 
old one is wholly incapable of improvement — totally 
depraved 1 



RUIN EASY YET DREADFUL. 

Oh, how easy it is to ruin one's self and others. But 
to raise the fallen mind and restore the ruined nature, 
how hard ! No power can do it. Even with God, it is 
not mainly a work of power ; else his Son would not 
have been obedient unto death. How short was the 
work of our undoing in paradise. She took and ate, 
and gave to him, and he ate, and it was done. But to 
undo that, how many generations it has occupied ; how 
many beings it has engaged ; what a sacrifice it may 
be said to have cost God ; how many drops of sweat, 
and tears, and blood, it has called for. Oh, what 
agency has been found necessary to undo it ! Soon 
the covenant of death was struck, but not so that of 
life and grace. 

How easy it is to be undone for ever ! It is but to sit 
still, and you die. It is only to do nothing. It costs no 
effort. Just "neglect the great salvation, and you 
shall not escape the damnation of hell." 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 175 

A man can destroy himself, but he cannot save him- 
self. It is easier to destroy than to save ; to pull down 
than to build up ; to take life than to restore it. 
" Facilis descensus Averni, sed revocare gradum, hoc 
opus, hie labor est;" — to destroy is human, to save 
is divine. "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but 
in me is thy help." The first man, he by whom the 
offence came, needed to be but of the earth, earthy ; 
the second man, he by whom the free gift came, be- 
hooved to be the Lord from heaven. Adam to destroy, 
had only to reach out his hand, and take, and eat ; but 
Christ, an infinitely more glorious personage, to save, 
had to labor, to weep, and to die. To shut heaven 
against our race, O, how easy it was, but to open 
it again, what it cost even the Son of God ! Man 
could sin, but it required the incarnation of Deity to 
atone for sin. One transgression of man obliterated 
the image of God from his soul, but to restore it, de- 
mands the operation of the divine Spirit. We can unfit, 
we have unfitted ourselves for heaven, but to fit us for 
it is as much the work of God as creation. A single 
and easy effort quenches the spark of spiritual life, but 
no collision of earthly materials can strike it up again; 
fire must come down from heaven to rekindle it ; in 
Jehovah is our help, and he has come forth for our 
help; and the work he has undertaken for us is 
greater than the work of creation. Look at it in its 
preparation ; look at it in its execution ; love impelled 
him to seek a ransom ; he found one in his only begot- 
ten Son, and he so loved the world that he gave him. 
He hath laid on him the iniquities of us all ; with his 



176 SELECT REMAINS OF 

sacrifice he is well pleased ; and now he is in Christ 
reconciling the world to himself. And he has sent 
forth his Spirit to convince the world of sin, and to 
take of the things of Christ and show them unto us. 
Will you avail yourselves of his help 1 Help yourselves 
you cannot, and creatures cannot help you, God alone 
can ; and now he will, he waits to help you ; will you 
be helped by him, or will you continue undone for ever 1 
There is no other alternative ; choose in view of this. 



THE SINNER'S CONDITION. 

O, sinner, hast thou any hope, or inheritance, or 
treasure beyond the grave 1 Alas, none ! Your hope 
and portion lie below. And yet you are on the brink 
of the grave, and a step carries you beyond it. Here 
you have no continuing city, nor yet do you seek one 
to come. You have a treasure, but it is on earth ; a 
portion, but it is in this life ; good things, but they are 
here. You are presently going to eternity, where you 
have nothing, and whither you can carry nothing of all 
you have here. What a prospect you have before you ! 
A blank eternity ! An eternity of unsatisfied desire, 
without any thing, without even hope. Behold before 
you an immortality utterly unprovided for ; and within 
a day you may be compelled to enter upon it. Still 
there is an opportunity of changing the prospect ; still 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 177 

the hope of the Gospel is set before you ; still you may 
lay hold of it, if you will but fly for refuge to Jesus. 

The way of life and grace is indicated by a thousand 
bends, and lighted by ten thousand lamps, and we are 
exhorted, yea, intreated by motives of every kind and 
from every world to pursue it. And no solitary index 
ever set up by God points its finger to any other, and 
there is access to this way only from this world ; and 
human life is a withering flower 6 a fleeting shadow, a 
vanishing vapor, a breath in the hand of God, a short 
uncertainty. 



PLEAS OF SINNERS. 

Some sinners would set off their obedience against 
their disobedience ; pleading merit against demerit ; as- 
serting that they have done some evil and much good; 
urging in extenuation, that the temptation was strong, 
and their natures frail ; declaring that they were sorry 
for the offence before they committed it, as well as ever 
sincej and that they do , not intend ever to repeat it; 
and finally reminding God that the sin which they 
have committed was small, — " Is it not a little one V* 
thus fostering a vain hope of pardon and acceptance. 
How very different from such Was the Psalmist. He 
prayed, " For thy name's sake, Oh, Lord, pardon mine 
iniquity, for it is great." This is the temper on which 



178 SELECT REMAINS OF 

a sense of pardon will produce penitence and humility. 
The greater one's need of pardon, the less able to do 
without it — the more urgent the case — the more mis- 
erable the condition — the more powerful the plea with 
God. The magnitude of a man's iniquity enforces his 
plea for pardon, just as the greatness of a beggar's 
necessities enforces his petition for relief, just as the 
squallid wretchedness of the returning prodigal, plead- 
ed with a kind father. Besides, God's grace is more 
glorified in pardoning great iniquity, for none but a 
great God can do such a thing. 

It follows that if the greatness of one's iniquity be a 
reason why it should be forgiven, it can never be a 
reason why it should not be forgiven. 



INABILITY. 



We ought to be very guarded in the use of language. 
Yet is there no impropriety in saying of God that he 
cannot do certain things, for although cannot more com- 
monly signifies the icant of power to accomplish a thing, 
yet this is not the only meaning of cannot in the Bible 
or out of it. It always implies the existence of an 
effectual obstacle, so that the thing will certainly not be 
done ; but the obstacle is not always a want of power to 
accomplish it. It may be a want of will, or the sense 
of justice, or the principle of honor, or the strength of 



WILLIAM NEVINS, P. D. 179 

affection, or something else. There is an indisposition 
which is as invincible as any inability. You might as 
soon move a mountain, as shake the integrity of some 
men. Some can be bound by the spiritual bonds of love 
as fast as others can by chains of iron. If I were going 
to define cannot, I would say that it expresses either 
want of power to do a thing, or the existence of a moral 
obstacle to its performance, as effectual and insuperable 
as that reared by an absolute impossibility. And if 
this definition were admitted, it strikes me that it would 
settle at once the long debated question in the Church 
in regard to moral and natural inability. One theolo- 
gian says the sinner can repent, another says he cannot, 
and thus the minds of the people are perplexed. They 
are both right in part, and both in part wrong. He 
can, that is, in so far as repentance is an act of power ; 
and yet he cannot, on account of his love of sin — his 
utter and invincible aversion to God and holiness. 



SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

Could men climb some steep and rugged ascent, and 
enter heaven with the boast of victory by their own 
right hand, and give out the impression that they had, 
unaided, won for themselves the crown of glory that 
fadeth not away, many would go to heaven who, as 
things now are, will meet an everlasting overthrow. 



180 SELECT REMAINS OF 



CODE OF HONOR. 

Where is there even a single article, in which the 
law of God and the law of honor do not clash with 
each other 1 At the very first glance at them, we see 
one of them positively forbidding, and the other peremp- 
torily enjoining revenge and murder. What impious 
effrontery, what dreadful hardihood of guilt is displayed 
in setting up any code, but especially such a code, in 
direct and known opposition to the law of God. 

Is there to be found in the annals of all the bedlams, 
a specimen of insanity, more wild and awful, than he 
presents, who, knowing it is God that says, " Thou 
shalt not kill," — ventures, in compliance with the 
execrable code of honor, to preface his sin, by throwing 
away the possibility of repentance, and puts in peril 
two immortal spirits, and goes himself or sends before, 
the lost, dreadful foe, an unprepared soul, with the 
fresh guilt of double murder upon it? It is madness, 
without the loss of reason, and as much to be execrated 
as to be pitied. 

A man may have that in his blood, which will em- 
bolden him to meet an antagonist on the measured field 
of death, and put the warm life at hazard, and peril 
both worlds at once — that in his blood, which will 
enable him to defy the constant terrors of his much 
offended Maker, and to> look, without recoil or tremor, 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 181 

on the glowing ,bosom of an uncovered hell; who yet 
has not a particle of that courage, which has its noble 
rest in the mind, so as to enable him to stand firm when 
threatened with the neglect or scorn of a few miserable 
companions. 



CONSCIENCE. 

Oh, when shall conscience, the judge and patron of 
duty, be the altar instead of the victim, receiving, in- 
stead of constituting the sacrifice, as now it too gen- 
erally does ; and the resolution to know and to do what 
is duty, prevail over every other purpose of the soul *? 
That time has not yet come. 

As you are not to offend your own conscience for 
your neighbor's sake, for that would be to disregard the 
Creator out of respect to the creature ; so you are bound 
to forego a gratification out of respect to him, however 
mean his condition or little his respectability, lest you 
cause him to offend the Creator because of the creature. 
Admit that such a course would demand the sacrifice 
of personal independence in a few trifling things. 
Greater and more glorious men than you have done 
the same, and so far from tarnishing, have added lustre 
to their names. 

Whatever that be, for which a good conscience is 
given, is too dearly purchased. Whatever you fail to 
16 



182 SELECT REMAINS OF 

secure, whatever you part with, keep a good conscience 
— peace with yourself. There is no enemy like an 
offended conscience. There is no anguish like self- 
reproach — no war so fierce as that which a man wages 
with himself. 



CASUISTRY. 



A pure conscience, enlightened from above, well- 
instructed out of the law of the Lord, and not bribed by 
selfishness, is the best of all casuists. Seldom will a 
case arise, when such a conscience will not immediately 
and instinctively decide aright. 



JUDGMENT OF CHARACTER. 

We must not judge of ourselves by the occasional 
desires that we feel, nor by the occasional resolutions 
that we are induced to make. They indicate not what 
we are, but what we are capable of, being under strong 
excitements. The infallible criteria are our uniform 
desires and our fixed dispositions. We are, in fact, and 
in God's estimation, what we habitually are. He 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 183 

regards us according to our established character, and 
not according to our occasional deviations from it. And 
if any man would know what his real character is, and 
what is the moral state of his heart, let him not always 
look at himself in one position only, but let him take 
notice of himself under every change of circumstances. 
Circumstances reveal character. They cross-examine 
a man. What a man is, in every variety of conditions, 
under all circumstances, that he is. If the sick man 
is anxious and as firmly resolved to be religious, when 
he recovers his health, then his heart is indeed that 
way. When the world begins to look bright again to 
the mourner, if his mind is still directed to Him, to 
whom in the hour of trouble he betook himself, it is a 
sign that there was something more than a mere 
shifting of the thoughts, — even a thorough turning of 
the mind to God. If they who are gracious when the 
pangs come upon them, are gracious when they go off 
from them, they are gracious in reality. 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 

No man will ever find out fully what he is by a mere 
survey of himself. A heart that is deceitful above all 
things, in order to be known, must be searched. The 
interior must be penetrated, as well as the surface con- 
templated. Explore yourselves, therefore. When a 



184 SELECT REMAINS OF 

charge of sinfulness is brought against you, say not, 
" I am not the man," — " Thou art the man." David 
thought he was not, until convicted out of his own 
mouth, he cried, " Have mercy upon me, O, God, and 
blot out all mine iniquities." Paul thought he was not 
the man. He was alive without the law once, but when 
the commandment came, sin revived, and he died — he 
found he was the man. Job thought he was not the 
man, while he only heard of God, but when he saw 
him, he exclaimed, " Behold I am vile." The publican 
lived many years, perhaps, before he discovered what 
sort of a man he was. He made the discovery not long 
before he went up into the temple to pray. Peter was 
sure he was not the man, on the evening before the 
day, when it was publicly discovered that he was. 
The prodigal son was long in coming to himself. And 
it now takes a great while to bring a sinner to the open, 
and intelligent, and hearty confession of his desperate 
wickedness. And yet if any deny or even doubt his 
own vileness and guilt, the gospel brings to him no 
salvation, no joy, no hope. 

The subject of the first lesson in the science of salva- 
tion is self. Neither skip that, nor imperfectly learn it. 
The second treats of Christ, but it is so dependent on 
the first, that it will never be rightly learned, till that 
is learned. No man ever comes to Christ, till he has 
first come to himself. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 185 



HYPOCRITES. 

It must be confessed that there do sometimes exist 
good reasons for applying the odious denomination of 
hypocrite to a man. In that case let him be exposed. 
Let not the world spare him, and let not the Church 
receive him. I have no apology to make for the man, 
who by one course of action, declares that he is a 
Christian, and by another, proves that he is a polluted 
sinner. 

How absurd the conduct of the mere professor. He 
takes great pains, and gets nothing for it but greater 
guilt and heavier condemnation. He has too much 
conscience to neglect religion entirely, and too little to 
make thorough work of it ; and thus he loses both 
worlds. Religion does not, and the world cannot make 
him happy ; and all this happens, in consequence of 
his trying to be what he never can be, a lover of this 
world and a lover of God too. 

Satan himself has his wardrobe of innocence. 

Many are ready to show courage for Christ, who 
cannot exercise fortitude for him. 

16* 



186 SELECT REMAINS OF 



INCONSISTENCIES. 



Christ's real people are his servants, his subjects, his 
friends. But of many of his professed people, it may 
be said, what strange servants ! Always at work for 
themselves ; — doing nothing for their Master ! What 
singular subjects ! — taking the reins of government into 
their own hands, and making their own will a law unto 
themselves. What heartless friends ! — preferring the 
company of the vain and the friendship of the world, 
above communion with God. 

The most important things are the most neglected. 
In proportion as subjects deserve attention, it is denied 
them. The life of man is chiefly taken up with trifles. 
Compare what men are doing, with what they are 
leaving undone, and you will see with surprise, how 
much the latter transcends in importance the former. 

He that does good without being good, pulls down 
with one hand what he builds up with the other. 

He who by inconsistency becomes a stumbling-block 
in the church, is the grief of the church, the jest of the 
world, and the gazing stock of fallen angels. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 187 



THE CHRISTIAN. 

The real Christian is the only truly prudent man. 
He has laid up in store for the winter of the grave. 
He has sown for eternity. He looks through all the 
future, and provides for it all. He sees the evils that 
are before him, and from all of them, hides himself in 
Christ. He is prepared to die, to be judged, and to be 
glorified. The presence of Christ will be with him in 
death — the righteousness of Christ upon him at the 
judgment, and the Spirit of Christ is sanctifying him 
for glory. He may have no treasure on earth ; and no 
matter if he has not ; he is only passing rapidly over it ; 
and if he had, he could not take it with him ; but in 
heaven, his goal, his home, he has a treasure. It is 
where he is to be — where he will want it — where he 
can use it. This is the prudent man. Mark him. 
Imitate him. 



HAPPINESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 

God is the unchangeable friend of all his people. 
The same cause which originated his love, must per- 
petuate it. Whoever frowns, he smiles. Whoever 



188 SELECT REMAINS OF 

opposes, he is on their side, able, disposed, and deter- 
mined to make them happy, pledged by word, and 
oath, and act, to do it; having said it, and sworn it, and 
spared not his Son to accomplish it. The eye whose 
glance surveys creation, watches over them, and all 
but weeps in sympathy with them. The hand that 
sustains the world, holds them in its hollow, and the 
arm that embraces the universe, clasps them to the 
bosom of infinite affection. What a reflection this ! 
Every pain is but a means of pleasure ; every trial, but 
for the refinement of the soul ; every suffering, disci- 
plinary ; every tear, a seed of joy ; and all things 
relating to the saints, working together for their good. 
Oh, in this assurance there is life. With this to sup- 
port, what cannot be endured 1 What burden can 
depress a soul, to which this assurance gives buoyancy*? 
What sorrow can come up to this joy 1 It neutralizes 
pain ; it banishes fear ; it diffuses a sweetness through 
life ; it changes the nature of death. 

What Christian can doubt that St. Paul, during the 
time of his imprisonment at Rome, was by far the 
happiest human being in that imperial city ; and that 
in his Christian experience, from day to day, there was 
to be found more to be earnestly desired, than could be 
collected from the longest and most fortunate life of 
the greatest and gayest of mankind 1 External circum- 
stances were indeed against him ; but he had that 
within him which was independent of external cir- 
cumstances, yea, which triumphed over them. What 
though the spectacles of this earth were excluded from 
him ? The glories of heaven were unveiled to him. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 189 

What though the converse of Christian men was denied 
him? The communion of God and his Son, were 
vouchsafed to him; and his soul, had, through the 
eternal Spirit, sweet fellowship with the spirits of the 
just made perfect. What if his body was confined'? 
His emancipated and unshackled spirit expatiated at 
large. No tyranny could limit his excursive thought ; 
no chains bind down his buoyant affections. His daily 
food might have been denied his body, but his soul sat 
at a perpetual banquet, and he drank daily of the 
streams that flow forth from that living fountain which 
is at God's right hand. He felt no want. Read his 
Epistle to the Ephesians, and judge whether these 
statements are not true. Would you think it was writ- 
ten in bonds and from a prison 1 It is one continued 
and lofty strain of pastime and triumph. Would you 
suppose that the man who composed this letter, was 
in instant expectation of being carried out to suffer a 
violent death 1 There is not one complaint, or request, 
or the expression of a single fear, in the whole of it. 

Nothing is more frequently a stimulus to duty than a 
consideration of our privileges. That which comforts, 
excites. Who can contemplate great benefits, without 
wishing to be interested in them, and without efforts to 
make his interest in them sure ] Think then of the 
happiness of God's people. 

They are happy in consideration of what God has 
already done for them. He has done great things for 
them, whereof they should be glad. His own Son and 
Spirit he has given, one to die for them, and the other 
to seal them. Jesus Christ is of God, made unto them 



190 SELECT REMAINS OF 

wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 
The consideration of what God has done for them, 
should make them happy, because it is a token of the 
value he sets upon them, and a proof of the tender 
regard he has for them, and especially because it is a 
pledge of what he will do for them in all future dura- 
tion. So argue the inspired writers, " If God spared 
not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how 
shall he not with him, freely give us all things'?" "He 
that hath begun a good work in you, will perform it, 
until the day of Jesus Christ." In giving them the 
Spirit, he has given them " the earnest of the heavenly 
inheritance." They may reason from what he has 
done, to what he will do. Having not withheld his 
Son, he will withhold no good thing. Having given 
them grace, he will give them glory. Having pur- 
chased them at so great a price, he will never give up 
the possession of them. They cost him more than 
the universe of creatures could offer for one of them. 
" Being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved 
from wrath through him." 

They have abundant cause to be happy, in view of 
what God is to them. He is their God. The self- 
existent, eternal, immutable, almighty Jehovah, is 
their God ; not as he is the God of others, but by a 
peculiar relation to them. He is their God as he 
was Abraham's. He is related to them by covenant. 
He is bound to them by promise. He is the preserver 
of all men, but especially of them that believe. To 
them, alone, has he pledged his blessing - , and made 
over his attributes. They alone, can say, " God is our 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 191 

refuge and strength. The Lord is our Shepherd." It 
is only in consequence of this peculiar relation, that 
one can say, " Oh, God, thou art my God. The Lord 
is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, 
my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the 
horn of my salvation, and my high tower." Others 
have their gods in whom they put their trust, and from 
whom they seek their happiness, but none of them is 
like unto the God of Jeshimon. They can neither hear 
nor save; "but our God is in the heavens, he hath 
done whatsoever he hath pleased." " Happy is that 
people that is in such a case ; yea, happy is that 
people whose God is the Lord." For this compre- 
hensive reason they are happy. How could they be 
unhappy? How could they want any good thing? 
But in particular, 

They are happy because they are specially under the 
divine protection. The eternal God is their refuge. 
They love the privilege of flying to him, in every time 
of alarm, and from every species of danger ; and they 
always find his arms open to receive them, and his 
omnipotence ready to defend them. " The name of the 
Lord is a strong tower ; the righteous runneth into it 
and is safe." " Because they make the Lord their 
refuge, even the Most High their habitation, there shall 
no evil befall them." " He that dwelleth in the secret 
place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow 
of the Almighty." And Oh, how much they need a 
refuge. How often they have occasion to fly to some 
place of safety without themselves. How many dangers 
beset them. How many foes assail them. What terrors 



192 SELECT REMAINS OF 

they often experience. How unsafe and unhappy we 
all sometimes feel ourselves to be. The principal thing 
from which, as sinners, we need a refuge, is the justice 
of God, which pursues us on account of our sins, and 
most righteously requires our blood. This is the chief 
danger to which we are exposed. Where shall we find 
safety from the pursuit? From this and from every 
danger, God in Christ, is the believer's refuge. He 
fleeth unto him, and is safe, even from his wrath. 
From the pursuit of justice, he flies, through the veil 
that was rent, into the most holy place, made accessible 
by the blood of Jesus — he takes hold of the mercy-seat, 
which that blood propitiated, and from which no soul 
was ever dragged to be. executed. The same mercy- 
seat is the place where conscience, no less than divine 
justice, beholds a perfect satisfaction. Verily, the good 
man has a shelter in reserve from the storms of adver- 
sity. He has an ark prepared against the deluge of 
fire. He has a safe spot to resort to, when the elements 
shall melt, and the earth be undergoing its dissolution. 
But, 

They are happy because they love God for their sure 
support. "Underneath them are the everlasting arms." 
"How can they sink with such a prop 1 ?" What 
burden can be equal to this support 1 What weight can 
be laid upon them, that can countervail the strength of 
these everlasting arms 1 Under all the actual calam- 
ities of life, and possible trials of death, cannot these 
arms bear them up? Christian, dost thou not feel a 
courage to meet them all, if thou mayest have this 
support, these arms placed underneath thee 1 If thou 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 193 

art an Israelite indeed, thou shalt have it. Hast thou 
not already had it in some measure % Hast thou not 
been supported beyond the strength of nature, and the 
power of philosophy to support thee in thy past trials 1 
Wouldst thou not, on many occasions, have sunk, as 
some have, if it had not been for these everlasting 
arms 1 Well, thou shalt have the same sure support in 
all time to come. " He hath said, I will never leave 
thee, nor forsake thee — as thy day is, so shall thy 
strength be — he shall deliver thee in six troubles, and 
in seven there shall no evil touch thee." In view of 
every danger thou hast to meet, of every enemy thou 
hast to encounter, and of every trial thou mayest be 
called upon to endure, in view of pain, sickness, and 
bereavement, in the appalling prospect of death, and 
the convictions of the last day, and the tremendous 
judgment, he says to thee, " Fear thou not, for I am 
with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will 
strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will up- 
hold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.'* 
" When thou passest through the waters, I will be with 
thee ; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow 
thee ; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt 
not be harmed, neither shall the flame kindle upon 
thee." And thou mayest say, " Though I walk 
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will 
fear no evil. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." 
Happy art thou, O, Christian, "who is like thee, O, 
saved of the Lord." 

Passing by, for brevity's sake, several considerations, 

illustrative of the happiness of God's people, take one 
17 



194 SELECT REMAINS OF 

more particular. They are happy, and there are none 
like them, in view of what God will do for them here- 
after. What will he do for them? I will tell thee 
what he will do for them, if thou wilt tell me what he 
will not do for them. What will he not do for them, 
having already done so much, and having done it for 
them when they were enemies, what will he not do for 
them, now that they are friends ? Having exercised 
all bountifulness towards them, whilst there was much 
in them to disapprove, what will he not do for them, 
when they shall be objects of unmixed complacency 1 
Having begun in such munificence, will he not only 
maintain it, but according to his usual method, pro- 
ceed to something yet vastly greater? Is there any 
thing too great or too glorious to expect from that love 
of God, whose first fruit was iln- gift of his Son? What 
will he not do for thorn in answer to the prayers, and 
in remembrance of the sufferings of that Son, and for 
his sake 1 How inestimably precious must be the in- 
heritance of the saints, if it bears any proportion to the 
price at which it was purchased. 

We know not what God will do for his people. We 
know we are now the sons of God ; but what we shall 
be, doth not yet appear. Yet this we know, we shall 
be like Christ. We know that being children, we are 
heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ ; but what the 
inheritance is, we know not, only that it is incorrupti- 
ble, undefiled, unfading. Yes, we do know in general, 
that " he that overcometh, shall inherit all things." 
We know that God has made great preparations for 
those that love him ; but the nature of the joys and 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 195 

glories we know not. Eye hath not seen any resem- 
blance of them ; ear hath not heard any description of 
them ; nor have they in any wise entered the heart of 
man. We know not what heaven is ; but we know 
that there is no night there, no pain, no sorrow, for God 
shall wipe away all tears from all faces ; the wicked 
shall cease from troubling ; the weary shall be at rest ; 
yea, more, shall drink in pleasures for ever more at 
God's right hand. 



THE SAINT AND THE SINNER. 

If Christ should say to the wicked as to the right- 
eous, on the last day, " I was an hungered, and ye gave 
me meat ; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink," &c, 
they would not ask, " when saw we thee hungry V &c. 
They would think themselves deserving of the com- 
mendation ; for they always contended that they had 
good hearts and loved Christ. Just so it is now. His 
enemies most confidently and strenuously assert that 
they do love him, while his friends are very suspicious 
of themselves, often doubt whether they do love him, 
and are always slow to declare it, and when they do, 
it is always with regret that they love him so little. 

Christians wonder why they should be saved. Sin- 
ners wonder why they should not be saved. The sinner 
asks, "What have I done?" The Christian, "What 



196 SELECT REMAINS OF 

have I not done?" The sinner says he does the best 
he can. The Christian knows he does not. Who was 
it that said, "Behold, I am vile?" Was it Saul, Judas, 
or Jeroboam 1 No. It was Job, " a perfect and an 
upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil." 

The habits of the evangelically righteous man are 
holy ; his sins are but occasional acts, contrary to his 
fixed habits ; whereas, with the unregenerate, it is just 
the reverse. He may do good actions, but his habits 
are sinful. The Christian acts out of character when 
he sins ; but when the other sins, he acts in character. 
With the former, sin is a digression ; with the latter, 
it is the main stay. The one walks in the ways of 
obedience, though he is guilty of occasional aberra- 
tions ; the other walks in the ways of disobedience 
habitually. Devotion is with the Christian a habit, 
though he be sometimes indevout ; so is trust in God, 
though he sometimes distrust him ; so is the strictest 
sobriety and the severest rectitude, though he may 
occasionally be betrayed into acts that are opposed to 
these virtues. 

It must be acknowledged, that if the sinners are not 
out of their senses, the saints are. There is madness 
somewhere. If Festus was not beside himself, Paul 
certainly was. The one party or the other is dream- 
ing. Who is it 1 Paul or Festus 1 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 197 



REFLECTION 



I suppose one important distinction of the present 
world from the future, to consist in the power we have 
now of hiding from the truth — of selecting certain sub- 
jects of meditation, and excluding others — in short, in 
flying from thought. Hereafter it will not be so. Then 
thought will overtake the fugitive from it. An eternity 
of reflection is coming after this life of action. Oh, 
God, when man, thy creature, shall be laid under the 
arrest of his own thoughts, when thou, by the simplest 
action on his memory, shalt set all his sins in order 
before him, even as they are now in the light of thy 
countenance ! * * * * I purposely leave the sentence 
incomplete. 



SENSE OF GUILT. 

The sense of criminality, of which all men have 
experience, the feeling" of being in fault, of being to 
blame, is unlike every other feeling". Of all feelings, 
it is the most painful, it is the least supportable. Phi- 
losophy may assist the soul to bear up under other 
pains ; but she affords no support to those who suffer 
17* 



198 SELECT REMAINS OF 

under this. And Christianity can afford no relief to the 
sense of guilt, but by that wonderful expedient through 
which she removes it. How different this feeling from 
the sense of loss, the sense of disappointment, the feeling 
of bereavement. These are painful. It is painful to be 
bereaved of good, to pass from prosperity to adversity, 
to experience in any respect, a reverse of fortune ; but 
how inexpressibly more painful it is when one has to 
reflect that himself is the culpable cause of the change. 
How it adds to the weight of misfortune and calamity, 
when one is obliged to acknowledge that he has crimi- 
nally brought it on himself. There is scarcely any 
thing that a man cannot have, if he may but reflect 
that it is not of his own procuring. But all support is 
withdrawn, when, of any evil he is enduring, it may be 
asked, "hast thou not procured this unto thyself 1" and 
he is unable to deny it. The bitterest ingredient in the 
cup of perdition, will be the consciousness of its victim 
that he himself has mingled that cup. The thought 
of heaven would not be so painful to the hopeless in- 
habitant of hell, were it not for the accompanying 
reflection, "I too might have been there — that heaven 
was open to me, and I might have entered it — nothing 
kept me out of it but my own will — this wicked heart." 
There will be that feeling in every lost soul : " I am 
here, because I would be here ; I am suffering the con- 
sequences of my own free choice ; I am eating the fruit 
of my own voluntary doings." 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 199 



THE IMPENITENT MISERABLE OF 
NECESSITY. 

It is no disparagement of God's omnipotence that he 
cannot make a sinner forever happy for two reasons. 
First, he cannot do what he cannot will to do, what his 
moral perfections forbid to will to do. He cannot make 
the depraved heart happy, while it continues depraved, 
for the same reason that he cannot lie. There is another 
reason why he cannot do it, because it is repugnant to 
the nature of things. He cannot make a sinful heart 
happy, for the same reason that he cannot make matter 
think, while it remains matter ; for the same reason he 
cannot make his own nature mortal. 

At the judgment, every sinner will be speechless, 
and confounded, and not from intimidation, but from 
conviction. That silence and confusion will not be 
produced by any array of terror, by any display of mere 
power, but by the clear exhibition of truth. Nor will 
the truth exhibited, be any thing new and before un- 
discoverable, but the very truth that now lies neglected 
on the pages of the sacred volume. But then it will 
be more distinctly displayed, and the attention of every 
mind will be fixed upon it, and it will make the impres- 
sion of itself, which now, for the most part, it does not, 
though it be cursorily contemplated sometimes. The 
truth remaining the same, and the sinner the same, his 
misery will eternally be necessary. " Hell is the truth 
seen too late." 



200 SELECT REMAINS OF 

There is no suffering like that which has its source in 
the mind. All suffering has its seat there. But some 
has its source there. The pain of sensation is not to 
be spoken of in comparison of the pain of reflection. 
Nothing hath such an edge, nothing such a point as 
thought, memory, consciousness, anticipation. There 
are no feelings of anguish like those which sometimes 
stand connected with these mental operations. No 
knife cuts so keen as reflection, no dart pierces so deep, 
no fire burns so fierce. We are sometimes asked, if in 
our opinion the punishment of sense constitutes any 
part of the retribution of the lost, and especially if we 
suppose there will be the presence and action of ma- 
terial fire on the miserable subjects of perdition. We 
may answer these questions, by ourselves asking, What 
if there be no punishment of sense, no action of material 
fire 1 AVhat is gained to the mind by that admission 1 
There will be at least the punishment of thought, the 
action of immaterial fire. There will be the truth, 
intended by such figures as these, — " snares, fire, brim- 
stone, and an horrible tempest." There will be that to 
the mind, which fire is to the body — the remembrance 
of a lost heaven, a neglected soul, a slighted Saviour. 
And the soul will receive within itself, a restless, corro- 
ding something, which will be to it the worm that dieth 
not. Even here, in this childhood of our existence, and 
in this world of mercy and hope, it is not unfrequently 
a man's most impassioned and earnest prayer, that he 
may be saved from his own thoughts and reflections. 
In the short space of some twenty, thirty, or fifty years, 
men often come to dread no being so much as them- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D, D. 201 

selves, and to deprecate no society so much as self-com- 
munion, and to fear no reproaches, like those which are 
whispered from within. And we know to what expe- 
dients they often resort to forget, and as it were, escape 
from themselves. Did you ever think what sort of an 
eternity must lie before such persons, when the object 
of their disgust and dread' shall be ever near .them, 
under their eye, when all their employment shall be 
thinking, and the subject themselves ; when no opiate 
can drown reflection, and the maddening inebriation of 
the mind, will be only such as is consistent with the 
most vivid impressions of the past, and the clearest 
perceptions of the future. 

When pain of body is suffered, there is refuge and 
support in the mind ; but when the mind itself is writh- 
ing in agony, from the cruel thrust of some thought, the 
deep piercing of some remembrance, or from that gnaw- 
ing, called remorse, there is nothing back of the mind 
to take refuge in. The Christian from his mental 
sorrows has a refuge in God. But the sinner has none. 
The Christian has underneath him the everlasting 
arms. But the sinner has nothing under him for sup- 
port. This is what is meant when it is said, " The 
spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity ; but a wound- 
ed spirit who can bear 1 ?" May you never know how 
insupportable such a spirit is ! A soul stung by itself 
— a soul its own accuser, executioner, and enemy — a 
soul whose reflections and anticipations are so many 
envenomed arrows. The accusations and reproaches 
of all other beings are less to be dreaded, than those you 
may heap on yourself. It were better that every other 



202 SELECT REMAINS OF 

intelligence should be acquainted with your sins, than 
that they should be known to your conscience ; better 
they should be emblazoned on every other record, yea, 
written in flowing capitals, and exhibited to the whole 
universe, than that they should be remembered by 
yourself. 



DELAY. 



" I am waiting," says the sinner. For whom does 
he wait? For God 1 God is ready for him. Waiting! 
What folly to wait for one's self to act ! 

Every sinner being dependant on the aid of the Holy 
Spirit for a disposition to embrace the Gospel offer ; it 
cannot be safe for him to delay his surrender to Christ, 
except on this condition, that God agrees to it. If he 
agrees to a postponement, let it be so. But where has 
he given his consent 1 Has he not, on the contrary, 
threatened most severely all who hesitate 1 

He is in a sad way, whose income never met his 
expenses, and whose expenses are daily becoming 
greater, while his income is daily becoming less. It is 
just so with every sinner who defers repentance. He 
is like a man unskilled to swim, who is by every step he 
takes, going farther from the shore, and into water of 
greater depth, besides becoming every moment more 
and more exhausted, — the man plunges on, while ten 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 203 

thousand voices on the shore, call and conjure him to 
stop and turn ; and that which calls loudest, and con- 
jures most earnestly, is the voice of God: "Turn ye, 
turn ye, for why will ye die. As I live, saith the Lord, 
I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth ; but 
that he turn from his wicked way and live." 

What can exist hereafter, that does not now exist, to 
give sinners the disposition to repent 1 What induce- 
ment will there be that is not now? Circumstances 
may indeed change. Adversity may overtake a man. 
He may be sick — he may be afflicted, and he may feel 
himself to be drawing near to death, and under these 
circumstances, he may have some inclination to reli- 
gion, which he has not now. But it is not every kind 
of inclination to the subject, that will answer the 
purpose. A man may have a disposition to be saved, 
yet no disposition to trust in Christ. Now the former 
without the latter is of no avail. The awakened 
sinner has some disposition towards religion, yet how 
long he remains, notwithstanding this, without the 
willingness to be a Christian; and sometimes dies with- 
out it. So sometimes the sinner on his death bed, is 
exceedingly solicitous about his salvation, and it seems 
as if there was nothing he would not do to secure it, 
and yet after all, he is not willing to give his heart to 
God. Perhaps if any sinner were sure of dying in a 
day, he would have some disposition towards religion. 
And yet with this certainty of death before him, he 
might be as far from the right disposition towards 
religion as he is now. Every sinner is dependant on 
God for the disposition that availeth. He never will 



204 SELECT REMAINS OF 

have it until God give it to him. Make his circum- 
stances ever so favorable, and still it does not exist. 
The heart did never originate, and will never originate 
this disposition. It must come from God ; and " He 
has mercy on whom he will have mercy." 

He knows not what he does, who puts off repentance 
from the certain present, to the uncertain future ; or if 
he knows, he does a deed of daring, which would 
signalize the most nefarious spirit in the dark domin- 
ions of eternal death. 

To-morrow exists not but in anticipation. It is but 
the reflection of time — the shadow of a day, that recedes 
continually as we advance, till it is lost in eternity. 
To-day is all of time that we have. 

Should any ask, how long a time it will require to 
make up the mind rationally, deliberately, and fully, to 
embrace Jesus Christ as the Saviour? I answer, just 
as long as it takes a drowning man to make up his 
mind to let go the little twig which he has in his hand, 
and lay hold on the spar that is thrown out to save 
him. 

Delay is refusal ; and refusal is base ingratitude ; 
and ingratitude is full of danger. When men say, we 
will repent and be reconciled to God by and by, they 
say we will not repent and be reconciled. All honest 
purposes of repentance relate to the present time. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 205 



PRIDE. 



The will of God appoints the measure of understand- 
ing 1 , wealth, power, beauty, pleasure, and influence, 
which each shall have. Here is an abiding and un- 
answerable reason why none should glory and none 
should envy. 

There is another consideration which evinces the 
unreasonableness of both pride and discontent. It is 
that men are not proprietors, but stewards, holding 
whatever they have in trust, to be accounted for to 
God. Therefore, the man who boasts of his superior 
endowments, does in effect, boast of the heavier account 
he will have to render, and is virtually proud of the 
more aggravated condemnation to which unfaithfulness 
will subject him. And the discontented does as really 
lament that he has no more onerous burden laid upon 
him, no more goods to give account of, and that un- 
faithfulness in employing his talents, will only expose 
him to a comparatively light condemnation. It would 
be quite as reasonable for men of great endowments to 
murmur against the Almighty Dispenser, and to be 
envious and discontented, because they are placed over 
so much, as for men more moderately endowed, to do 
the same, because they are placed over so little ; inas- 
much as it is certainly more easy to be faithful in few 
than in many things, and the precious reward of faith- 
fulness in every case, however small the trust, is ever- 
lasting life, and an entrance into the joy of the Lord. 
18 



206 SELECT REMAINS OF 



PRIDE AND HUMILITY. 

Never do human pride, self-conceit, contempt of 
others, arrogant pretensions, high thoughts, and 
haughty demeanor, appear so hateful and hell de- 
serving, as when we place them in contrast with 
the humility of the Son of God. 

Who art thou, O proud man] "A worm and no man," 
not even worthy of the name of man, since you have 
become a sinner — a worm taken out of the dust, and 
crawling through it, to return into it — a poor, exposed, 
dependant, feeble, timid, mortal creature — aching, toss- 
ing, weeping, mourning, decaying, dying — to-day thou 
art this, and to-morrow thou must be dead, and for thy 
death mayest be indebted to the meanest insect that 
flies the air — thy noise all stilled, thy dignity brought 
down to the dust, thy beauty marred, and thou a mass 
of matter unsightly and offensive. With all thy 
courage, thou durst not say this shall not be thy end 
to-morrow. In intellect too, how weak and erring — 
how little thou knowest, and even that little, how 
easily it may be lost ; and the mind that is now so 
proud of its powers and acquisitions, sink into hopeless 
idiocy. And thy heart, the worst part of thee, deceitful 
above all things and desperately wicked — thy inward 
part, very wickedness, whose excesses it takes Omnipo- 
tence to restrain, and so defiled, that God alone can 
purify it — unsusceptible of improvement, it must be 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 207 

made anew. And thy whole nature, a slave of many- 
petty, cruel tyrants — thy lusts. Where hast thou ma- 
terials for a crown of pride 1 



UNBELIEF. 



It is a solemn fact, that we cannot reason away un- 
belief. It is often impossible to convince a man of the 
sinfulness of that which is agreeable, and the rectitude 
of that which is inconvenint. And he may be con- 
vinced, and yet not do the right, nor avoid the wrong, 
either as having no inclination, or having a sort of 
inclination, he may yet feel he is in bondage to evil, 
unable to do the good he would. There is a moral 
servitude and impotence, not inconsistent with respon- 
sibility and blame. 



WORLDLINESS. 

So entirely are the most of mankind taken up with 
this visible world, that if there should come to them the 
infallible assurance that there exists no other world, 
they would not have to modify their plans, or alter their 



208 SELECT REMAINS OF 

pursuits at all, to conform them to the new and dismal 
information. 

In the decalogue of this world, one of the chief com- 
mandments is, "Do as others do, and as the generations 
past have done." It tolerates no reformers — it listens 
to no innovations. It cannot away with non-conform- 
ists to its establishment. The slightest punishment 
ever inflicted for such transgression, is taunt and scorn, 
combined with a malignant pity. 

What faith, and perseverence, and firmnesss, were 
required in Noah, as he laboriously worked at the ark, 
exposed to the insults and sneers of the unbelieving 
population that surrounded him, without ever once 
doubting the divine word, or giving over his work, or 
ceasing to warn the obstinate and ungrateful multitude. 
And it requires scarcely less of these virtues in a dis- 
ciple of Christ in our day, to go steadily forward in 
the firm belief of things unseen and far distant, in a 
steadfast adherence to the person and interests of the 
Saviour, in opposition to the flood of worldliness around 
him. 



ANIMOSITY. 



To remember that we have often injured ourselves 
far more than others have injured us, ought very much 
to moderate our animosities towards each other. If we 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 209 

must hate and be indignant, let our greatest enemy 
receive the full weight of our vengeance, and that in 
all cases is self. 



IDOLATRY. 



The idolatry of some mentioned in the Bible, con- 
sisted in worshipping the image that fell from Jupiter. 
The idolatry of many in our day, consists in worship- 
ping the image that fell from God. 



PERVERSITY. 

It would be strange if some were serious ; the cir- 
cumstances in which they voluntarily put themselves 
end so unfavorable. It would be strange if they were 
saved, since they do so much not to be. Many act as 
if their grand anxiety were " what must we do not to 
be saved?" 

18* 



210 SELECT REMAINS OF 



INTEMPERANCE. 

I ventured to tell a man a few months since, who 
had just fallen into habits of intemperance, that if he 
did not reform forthwith, he would speedily ruin him- 
self, soul and body, but he did not believe it, yet he is 
dead of drink already. 

The evil and painful effects of intemperance, do not 
constitute the penalty of the law against that sin. 
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die," points to the 
penalty. 



EVIL SPEAKING. 

Perhaps no single cause contributes more to banish 
the Spirit of God from the houses and hearts of men 
than evil speaking. There are sins of more flagrant 
enormity, but what sin is more extensively diffused ] 
Evil speaking ! Who is without sin in this respect ] 
How common it has become. How much of it there 
is every day — every where — in the city and in the 
country — at home and abroad — in every large con- 
course — and in every little company, and even in the 
soliloquy of the closet. Who is not among its actors 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 211 

and its objects 1 We sacrifice others on this cruel altar, 
and then we ourselves become its cruel victims. How 
easily we slide into this sin. 



APPLAUSE. 



The tooth of slander conceals a virulence that may 
poison a reputation which a whole life has been spent 
in earning. The applause of the world ! A breath 
expires it ; and how often does the returning inspira- 
tion reclaim it. 



NOVEL READING AND THEATRES. 

I cannot conceive that man, whose twofold business 
it is to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, and to 
work out his salvation with fear and trembling, ought 
to have much to do with those tales of chivalrous 
adventure, moving incident, and high wrought fanciful 
love, which so much abound. The didactic, rather 
than the romantic, befits human life. Though your 
pleasure be connected with light and airy fancy, your 
interest lies in heavy facts. 



212 SELECT REMAINS OF 

How often are persons heard to say of certain amuse- 
ments or employments of questionable propriety, that 
they are sure they receive no injury from them, how- 
ever it may be with others. But how came they to 
the knowledge of this fact 1 And why do they speak 
so positively? They may not be conscious of the 
injury, and yet it may be received. True, the amuse- 
ment or employment in question, may not maim any 
member of the body — may not infuriate any passion of 
the heart ; but how can they say that it does not exert 
any evil influence on the easily susceptible and finely 
fibred soul 1 This is not a matter to be decided by 
feeling. Take for illustration, the habit of attending 
upon theatrical amusements, or the practice of romance 
and novel reading. Many contend that both of these 
are harmless. Without attempting now to prove their 
hurtfulness, (though I firmly believe it) it may be con- 
fidently asserted, that their hurtfulness or innocence 
cannot be determined by the feelings of persons, while 
thus employed. The question can only be determined 
by inquiring into the nature and tendencies of these 
things, and by carefully investigating the character 
formed under such influences. If the scenes presented 
and sentiments expressed at a theatre, or in an amatory 
novel, can be proved to have a tendency to injure the 
soul, (and what is more susceptible of injury 1) it is 
absurd to say that they do not injure any particular 
individual. They do ; but here is the secret of the 
matter. They injure in a way which the individual 
not only is not conscious of, but cares nothing about. 
For example, they kill the spirit of devotion, estrange 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 213 

the soul from God, neutralize and secularize the mind, 
not affecting, perhaps, the morals of the life, but cor- 
rupting the morals, of the heart, and hardening it, not 
to every kind of impression, but to the peculiar impres- 
sions of religion. For the heart may be all alive to 
some kinds of good feeling, such as friendships and 
pity, while it is as dead as death itself to other kinds of 
praiseworthy emotion, such as the love of God and of 
Jesus Christ. Now what do the great multitude care 
for such effects as these, even should they admit them 
to be produced 1 ? Nothing. Therefore they resort to the 
theatre and devour romances. 



PERVERSIONS. 

How many are guilty of the folly of regarding priv- 
ileges as pledges — present favors as earnests of future 
blessedness. They suppose that there is no danger of 
God's changing his method of dealing with them — that 
being so indulgent to them now, he will never cease to 
be so. They forget the difference between probation 
and retribution. They forget that "there are first, that 
shall be last," and that some "who are exalted to 
honor, shall be cast down to hell." 

You cannot scourge yourself into the favor of God, 
nor emaciate yourself into acceptance with him. 



214 SELECT REMAINS OF 

Men are often willing to do towards securing salva- 
tion, more than is required of them, if they but be 
permitted to do it according to their own mind and in 
their own manner. They are agreed to strive to enter 
in at the strait gate, if they may do it in their own 
way. It is not to the amount, but to the nature of the 
requisitions of the Gospel, that they are averse. They 
are ready to make sacrifices of property and personal 
comfort, to almost any extent, if these things may but 
be the price of their redemption. 



SELF-DECEPTION. 

It is a melancholy and mortifying fact, that men, not 
only may be and often are deceived, but may and often 
do, deceive themselves. The cheat and dupe is fre- 
quently the same identical individual. And greater is 
the danger of self-deception, than of deception from any 
other source. The world is deceitful — riches are deceit- 
ful — the devil is deceitful, but the heart is decitful 
above all things. We are liable to be imposed on by 
other intelligent beings. We are still more exposed to 
imposition from ourselves. 

How many hopes are built on the wreck of the Bible. 

Strange that any should content themselves with the 
mere profession and form of Christianity, when so large 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 215 

a part of our Lord's instructions are intended to show 
the fallacy of hopes having no better basis. 

It is not difficult to imitate Christianity so far as to 
deceive others. Yea, and to delude our own souls is 
perhaps still easier. This is a fearful fact, the knowl- 
edge of which should cause every one to look well to 
the foundation of his hopes. 

Scarcely a week passes, in which the newspapers, in 
their obituary notices, do not express sentiments, from 
which, if true, it would follow conclusively, that the 
mission of the Son of God to our world, and especially 
his death, were entirely needless — sentiments utterty 
subversive of the Gospel, and yet they are mistaken 
by many for Christian sentiments. 

Many saw Christ on earth, who will never see him 
but once more, when he shall sit upon the throne of 
judgment ; and then will wish they might not see him ; 
they will call upon the rocks and mountains to fall on 
them and hide them from his face. 

Self-knowledge is the most difficult of all knowledge, 
and self-government the most difficult of all govern- 
ment. 

It is sometimes said of one that he has a good heart, 
although his life is very far from being good ; as if it 
were probable that such evil should proceed from a 
good heart — such corrupt streams flow from a pure 
fountain. 

Oh, ye, who go lazily and luxuriously along, ye will 
never enter heaven at that rate. 

It is wonderful how easily men are persuaded that all 
will be well with them hereafter. They are satisfied 



216 SELECT REMAINS OF 

that they shall be happy forever, on evidence that 
would not satisfy them of the certainty of any other 
thing whatsoever. They often build their hopes of 
heaven on a foundation, which they would not trust 
for one of all their worldly expectations. 

I have sometimes thought if the Young Ruler (see 
Matt, xix, 16 — 22,) had only lived in the nineteenth 
century, how differently he would have been treated by 
our ecclesiastical authorities. They would not have 
sent him away ; they are too anxious to make disciples, 
and too accommodating in their terms. If he had come 
with the inquiry, "What lack I yet?" to one church, 
they would have told him that nothing was wanting 
but to be of their communion. If he had applied in 
another quarter, he would have heard this soothing 
reply to his question, " Why give yourself all this 
anxiety, young man 1 — why make all this ado ? — you 
are all that God requires you to be — there never was 
a more blameless young man — or, if you do come 
short in any particular, he is a merciful being, he will 
certainly overlook your failings — you have nothing to 
fear — he never made you to be damned." Probably 
he might have gone still further with his question, 
before he would have received a scriptural answer to it. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 217 



"AN HONEST MAN IS THE NOBLEST WORK 
OF GOD." 

What ! Honesty the perfection of virtue 1 What ! 
Is that the noblest creature of God, which is consistent 
with the most consummate selfishness, and which may 
exist in unjarring harmony with impiety towards God 
and cruelty towards men'? Is rigid justice in one's 
dealings with his fellow-creatures, the highest excel- 
lence of moral character 1 Why, it is the lowest on the 
list of the virtues. It is no compliment to a man to say 
that he is honest, because it is so shameful to be other- 
wise ; and to say it of the dead, as the most that can 
be said of them, is very much like an insult to their 
memory. Such feeble praise is heavy censure. He must 
be poorly off for virtues, who boasts of his honesty. But 
let it be understood, as the poet hath said, that honesty 
is the perfection of virtue, and we know the conse- 
quence. Most men are satisfied to approach perfection. 
To be all but the noblest work of God, they think is 
doing well ; for according to this scheme, the man that 
is all but honest, is all but at the summit of virtue, all 
but the noblest work of God. The truth is, it is no 
very great doing, to give every man his legal dues. It 
is our duty, and our glory, and our happiness, to give to 
others much more than their dues. 



19 



218 SELECT REMAINS OF 



INFLUENCES. 

The man who is exposed to evil influences, who sees 
evil example, who imbibes erroneous doctrine, who 
frequents evil places, and keeps evil company, is not 
the only man whose last state is worse than the first. 
It is a certain fact, with which every moral agent 
should be acquainted, that a man may grow worse and 
worse, more guilty and more depraved, under the most 
benign and blessed influences to which the human 
character can be exposed ; and his progress to evil will 
seem even to be accelerated by such influences. The 
case of Judas Iscariot, is a striking proof and melan- 
choly illustration of the truth of this assertion, which 
may seem to some an incredible paradox. Judas walk- 
ed in the light of the highest example that ever shone 
upon earth. Such men as John and his fellow apostles 
were his companions. Such places as the garden of 
Gethsemane were his resorts. Such families as that of 
Lazarus and his two sisters he visited. Such sounds as 
those of prayer and praise he habitually listened to. 
He heard the Gospel from him, in whose breast the 
grace that originated it dwelt, and who spake as never 
man spake. He witnessed daily deeds of benevolence. 
He inhaled the most healthful atmosphere, and listened, 
and moved, and had his being amid the most benignant 
influences. And yet what became of him all know, a 
traitor, a deicide ; worse than he would have become 
if thieves had been his companions, and murder and 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 219 

rapine his employ ; a more depraved and guilty being 
than he could have become under any other supposable 
circumstances. And why 1 Because he carried and 
cherished in his heart, and would by no means part 
with one depraved disposition — accursed covetousness, 
which defeated, yea, vitiated, in their effect on him, all 
good influences. 



WHERE ARE YOU GOING? 

How common is it among men to desire to know 
what is thought of them by their friends and acquain- 
tances ; and if their name has been carried across the 
waters, and to distant countries, they feel a desire to 
know whether it is well or ill esteemed. Strange then 
that men should feel so little interest in ascertaining 
whether the family in heaven, the innumerable com- 
pany of angels, and the just men made perfect, have 
ever hailed and in songs celebrated their repentance. 
Why have men no curiosity to know, especially, in what 
estimate they are held by the blessed Trinity 1 Many 
seem not to care whether He smiles or frowns, whose 
smile is heaven, and whose frown is hell. 

Oh, the strange infatuation of men ! What will be 
the next news from Europe 1 ? Which way the price 
of some staple commodity is likely next to fluctuate 1 ? 
Who will next be the chief magistrate 1 — are the ques- 



220 SELECT REMAINS OF 

tions which interest most men. But where are they 
going to pass their immortality 1 What is to be their 
state forever 1 Whether are they maturing for heaven 
or hell 1 — are uninteresting inquiries. 

We need not travel to the pole to ascertain how it 
points — the little needle of the compass tells us. Nor 
need we look at the sun to find its place in the heavens 
— the dial plate can tell us. So is the heart to him 
that studies it, the index of the direction and destiny of 
the soul.* 



DEATH-BED REPENTANCE. 

As for that sorrow and regret which is felt by the 
rich and dying, let it not be mistaken for repentance. 
It proves nothing. It is a miserable hope that is built 
upon it. No man has any assurance that since the 
foundation of the world, more than one man, repenting 
thus late, repented savingly ; for the dying man has no 
opportunity to "bring forth fruits meet for repentance," 
and only " by their fruits shall ye know them." 

Perhaps nothing would more strikingly illustrate the 
deceitfulness of sin, than the perversion thereby pro- 
duced, in regard to future repentance. It tells how 
many excellent opportunities there will be for repen- 
tance in the progress of life, seasons of afflictions, 
periods of leisure, occasions of sickness, and what a 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 221 

golden time the last, the sickness that shall be unto 
death, will afford, what a glorious opportunity then, in 
the midst of medicines, and in the company of nurses, 
and physicians, and pastors, when there is necessity to 
constrain, and agony to urge on, and no world to 
attract, no friend to oppose, no formidable cross to take 
up, but death is in near view and every thing favorable ! 
The poor sinner is made to think a return of the Pente- 
cost would hardly equal such a time in advantages for 
repentance ! He forgets that the soul is not merely 
bound with filaments — that there are chains to be 
broken. He forgets that in making peace with God, 
the divine consent and concurrence are as necessary as 
his. He forgets too, that true repentance is not a mere 
sorrow, and that there is a sorrow for sin, for which hell 
is a penitentiary. 

There is among the realities of this world, what 
answers to that which in the parable of the virgins is set 
forth in figure. A person, he ma)'' be one of those who 
have borne the lamp of the Christian profession, and 
gone forth to meet the bridegroom, makes in one of his 
last hours, perhaps his very last, the painful discovery 
that he has no grace in his heart. What shall he do 1 
His mind is now awake. But the approach of death 
has already been announced ; and the cry, " he cometh, 
he cometh," has been reiterated in his ears, and he 
hears the fatal foot-fall at hand. What shall he do? 
He has no time to lose. He applies to those around 
him ; but all the help they can afford is friendly counsel 
— " go buy ;" and he hastily goes ; and with tears and 

sighs he asks for the holy oil ; and he offers the world, 
19* 



222 SELECT REMAINS OF 

upon which he has now no claim ; and he proposes to 
give his all, which is now nothing ; and he enlists as 
many as he can in his behalf; but death, inexorable, 
uncourteous, intrusive death supervenes, and draws his 
impervious curtain around the scene ; and he is gone ! 
Friendship, thinking that importunity, that prayer, 
and that warmth and earnestness, the effect of love's 
cnkindlement in the heart, calls these exercises, re- 
ligion ; and supposes that the flown spirit has found 
easy and abundant entrance through an ample, and 
wide, and open door. But it is to be feared he found 
the door shut. He slept too long. He began too late. 
He was in earnest— he lost not a moment ; but it was 
too late when he began. Ah, that noise and bustle, that 
the fearful soul makes on the eve of its departure, about 
its salvation, I place little dependence upon. It is thus 
that animal feelings when highly excited, exhibit them- 
selves. All this may occur, and yet the Holy Spirit be 
afar off. 



CONVERSION. 



The subject of a sudden and instantaneous conver- 
sion has given rise to much debate. The whole diffi- 
culty that has been gathered around this subject, may 
be removed by making one obvious distinction. Con- 
" version is sudden, is instantaneous ; but religion, piety, 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 223 

or sanctification, is progressive. In other words, religion 
is progressive, but the first step in that progression is 
instantaneous. 

I have long since ceased to marvel at the doctrine 
of regeneration. 



FAITH. 



That any individual may have the benefit of the 
provisions of the Gospel, a personal act or exercise on 
his part is indispensable. " Whosoever drinketh of the 
water that I shall give him, shall never thirst." Not if 
it be provided, not if it be set before him, shall he be 
secured against future thirst; but if he drink of it. So, 
"the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, to every 
one that believelh." And, " to as many as received him, 
to them gave he power to become the sons of God." 
And " whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood 
hath eternal life ;" but " except ye eat the flesh and 
drink the blood of the Son of man, ye have no life in 
you." "These things are written that ye might believe 
that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, 
ye might have life through his name." " By him, all 
who believe are justified from all things." " In Christ 
Jesus, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor un- 
circumcision, hut faith, which worketh by love." 



224 SELECT REMAINS OF 

It then appears that a personal act is necessary j not 
many acts, either ceremonial, or moral, or both, as 
some vainly suppose, but one act. Our salvation does 
not depend on our doing many things. That is the 
imagination of self-righteousness. " Herod did many 
things," but he did not do rightly one thing. And this 
is necessary on the same principle, and for the same 
reason that drinking is necessary in order that water 
may allay one's thirst. The requisition is no more 
arbitrary in the one case, than it is in the other. The 
necessity in either case is equally absolute. The act of 
believing can no more be dispensed with in the one 
case, than the act of drinking in the other. A thirsty 
man is not beneficially effected by water, however 
abundant it may be, however accessible it may be, 
except he drink of it ; neither is a lost man benefitted 
by the great salvation of the Gospel, except by faith he 
receive it. Of what advantage is a fountain of water 
to him who does not drink of it 1 Of what advantage 
an atonement for sin to him, who does not appropriate 
it to himself? Drinking is as necessary to allay thirst, 
though not in the same sense, as water is. So faith is 
as necessary to the salvation of any individual, as the 
work and passion of Christ were. A man's thirst is 
allayed by drinking, as really, though not in the same 
sense, as by water. So a sinner is saved as really, yet 
in a different sense, by believing, as by the righteous- 
ness of Christ. Hence, we are said to be justified by 
faith, as one is said to be refreshed by drinking, the 
act of receiving being put for the thing received. So it 
is said, " thy faith hath saved thee," — " thy faith hath 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 225 

made thee whole." There is no help for a man suffering 
under thirst, if he refuses to drink. So there is no help 
for the sinner, who refuses to receive Christ. The man, 
in the case supposed, as certainly dies of thirst, as if 
there was no water. So the sinner as certainly perishes, 
as if there was no Saviour, and no atonement. He 
perishes, however, under different circumstances, and 
all that is peculiar in his circumstances goes to aggra- 
vate his perdition. He perishes within sight and even 
within reach of the Saviour. If he would but look, he 
should live. His own perverseness destroys him. His 
obstinacy is his ruin. It is as if a man should lie down 
by a fountain to die of thirst. He dies under circum- 
stances the most aggravating. So dies the sinner. 



FAITH AND PRACTICE. 

Men love to suppose that they are irresponsible for 
their faith — that inclination has nothing to do in the 
matter, but evidence every thing. Ah, if it be so, how 
comes it to pass, that we so uniformly find the worst 
practice in connexion with the worst belief? If belief is 
decided altogether by evidence, how happens it that 
those who act most iniquitously, uniformly believe most 
erroneously 1 According to this theory, bad men ought 
to be found with as correct views as good men. I like 



226 SELECT REMAINS OF 

Christ's account : " Light has come into the world, and 
men loved darkness rather than light, because their 
deeds were evil." % 



REPENTANCE. 

No one denies that some sinners ought to be ashamed 
of themselves, as for example, liars, thieves, adulterers, 
adulteresses, hypocrites, the dishonest, the ungrateful, 
and many more. But I affirm that all sinners have 
reason to be ashamed of themselves, and that the 
course they all pursue is dishonorable and* degrading. 
The blush equally as the tear becomes every sinner. 
To look back on the past with shame, no less than with 
sorrow, behooves him. If he have no cause to be 
ashamed before men, yet he has great cause to be 
ashamed before God. If we need not blush for our 
treatment of our fellow-creatures, yet ought we not to 
blush for our treatment of our God and Saviour ? All 
true penitents do blush as well as weep. They are 
ashamed as well as grieved for the things they have 
done. Was it not so with the publican, who neither 
looked up, nor approached the place where those 
esteemed worthy worshippers stood 1 Was not Job 
ashamed, when he said, " Behold I am vile, what shall 
I answer thee *? — I will lay mine hand upon my mouth 
— I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes " % 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 227 

Hear Ezra too, " Oh my God, I am ashamed, and 
and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God ; for our 
iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass 
is grown up unto the heavens." Daniel said, " Oh, 
Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us 
confusion of face, because we have sinned against 
thee." Ezekiel, speaking of the repentance of Judah, 
says, " Then shalt thou remember thy ways, and be 
ashamed ; and I will establish my covenant with thee, 
that thou may est remember and be confounded, and 
never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, 
when I am pacified towards thee, for all that thou hast 
done, saith the Lord God." And again, " Then shall 
ye remember your own evil ways and your doings that 
were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own 
sight, for your iniquities and for your abominations. 
Not for your sakes, do I this, saith the Lord God, be it 
known unto you : be ashamed and confounded for your 
own ways, O house of Israel." Paul also says, that his 
brethren to whom he writes, in Rom. vi, 21, are now 
ashamed of unprofitable things previously done by 
them. If the sense of shame for having sinned, be not 
felt now, it certainly will be hereafter. David in 
speaking of the resurrection says, " Some shall awake 
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting 
contempt." The sense of shame will be one ingredient 
in the perdition of the ungodly. There will be the 
burning blush, as well as the scalding tear. 



228 SELECT REMAINS OF 



"AND THE LORD TURNED AND LOOKED 
UPON PETER." 

He uttered no word — he made no sign — lie simply- 
looked — the eye of the disciple met the eye of the 
Lord, and it was enough. I dare not attempt to de- 
scribe what that countenance expressed, and what that 
steadfastly fixed eye conveyed. No language can set 
it forth — no pencil has power to represent it. It was 
not one simple expression. It was not reproof alone, 
nor was it all pity, nor all indigntion, nor all sorrow, 
but a mingling of many emotions into one compound 
expression. It chided, it convinced, it pitied, it la- 
mented, it invited, it subdued. Peter understood its 
manifold meaning, and felt its mighty power. Its 
eloquence was irresistible. Its pathos pierced his very 
soul. It was a look of mild upbraiding : " Thou dost 
not know me, Peter ! — me, thy Lord, whose glory thou 
sawest on the mount ; whose sorrow thou didst witness 
in the garden. Didst thou not know me then ? Was 
it not thou, that saidst a little while ago, that thou 
wast ready to lay down thy life for me ?" It expressed 
a deep sense of injury. " And thou, Peter, art thou 
too among mine enemies'? — hast thou also taken side 
against me? — did I deserve this at thy hands?" It 
was a look of compassion. It seemed to say, " Poor 
unhappy Peter, alas! what hast thou done? — how thou 
hast wounded thy own soul ! — what work for repent- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 229 

ance thou hast made ! " It did not indignantly repel 
him. It did not say, " I disown thee, as thou hast done 
me. I cast thee off from me now, and I will deny thee 
before my Father." It seemed to say, " Notwithstand- 
ing thy perfidy, I have still a place left for thee in my 
heart, if thou wilt return to me. I will still own thee, 
though thou hast disowned me. Go and commune 
with thy heart on what thou hast done." There was 
also power in that look of Christ. It convinced, it 
melted, it overcome him quite. Grace went with it to 
his heart. And Peter remembered the word of the 
Lord: (how astonishing that he should have forgotten it 
until now). The tender scene that had taken place in 
the communion chamber, his promises and his protes- 
tations, all rushed into his mind at once, and he went 
out and wept bitterly. 



WHAT WE HOPE FOR. 

Think not, ye whom God has called by his word and 
Spirit out of the community of the world, that the 
object of your vocation is mere service or mere suffer- 
ing. It is true you are called to serve and to suffer, 
but you are also called to enjoy. Are you acquainted 
with the labors of your calling, and the trials of your 
calling, you should also know " the hope of your call- 
ing." Light is the task imposed upon you, and it is 
20 



230 SELECT REMAINS OF 

soon performed ; and short, though sharp it should be, 
is the trial ye have to undergo. What are these to the 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory, which these not 
only precede, but work for you. " I reckon that the 
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be 
compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." 
" When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall 
ye also appear with him in glory." "For our conver- 
sation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the 
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our 
vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious 
body; then, this corruptible having put on incorruption, 
and this mortal immortality, shall be brought to pass 
the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up 
in victory." " There remaineth a rest for the people of 
God ; there is no night there ; the Lamb that is in the 
midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead 
them to fountains of living waters ; and God shall wipe 
away all tears from their eyes." O, Christians, "know 
what is the hope of your calling." — and yet it passeth 
knowledge. " It doth not yet appear what we shall be 
— eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived, 
what God hath prepared for them that love him." 
Peter speaks of the object of the lively hope, as an in- 
heritance incorruptible, undefiled, unfading, reserved 
in heaven for us. John says, "We shall be like him." 
Paul says, " We shall be ever with the Lord." And 
the Psalmist testifies, " In his presence is fulness of 
joy, and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore." 
Jesus himself, says, " I give unto thee eternal life — I 
appoint unto you a kingdom — ye shall sit with me on 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 231 

my throne." Hereunto are ye called. And ye should 
know it, that ye may admire and celebrate the good- 
ness and grace of Him who hath called you into his 
eternal glory by Christ Jesus. Ye should know it, that 
ye may derive consolation in every sorrow, and support 
under every trial. Ye should know it, that the prospect 
may animate and inspirit you for every service and 
every suffering ; and that, forgetting the things that 
are behind, ye may press towards the mark for the 
prize of your high calling. In short, ye should know 
what is the hope of your calling, that ye may walk 
worthy of it. Know then this hope, and forego every 
other expectation, and reckon every other object of 
pursuit, in comparison with this, inferior, yea, base and 
unworthy of you. 



LOVE. 



Religion is the most excellent of all things. Love is 
the most excellent of all exercises. Religion is love. 
God is the most excellent of all the objects of love. 
And religion is the love of God. 

The benevolent spirit of the Gospel forgetteth nothing 
but itself. 

He who does not love all the saints, does not love 
any of them aright. If one loves only Christians of 



232 SELECT REMAINS OF 

one denomination, it is for their sectarianism, and not 
their saintship. The image he loves, is not Christ's, 
else he would love it wherever found. 



LOVE AND FEAR. 

If we may be cold and indifferent towards God, we 
may with infinitely more propriety be so towards the 
whole creation. It were easier to prove that the heart 
ought to be engrossed with God, and exhausted upon 
him, so as to be incapable of excitement from any other 
object, than to prove that it need not be occupied about 
him at all. That he alone, should be regarded, and 
admired, and loved, to the neglect and contempt of all 
creatures, is a proposition more capable of being main- 
tained, than that no admiration and love need be felt 
towards him. Not that it is right in fact, to be unaf- 
fected by things around us, and be literally affected 
only by the character of God. 

Terror may frighten us into a forced submission ; but. 
it is love alone to which the soul voluntarily yields. 
Terror may attack and carry the citadel, but the heart 
capitulates to love alone. Fear may induce us to con- 
ceal our enmity, but love slays it. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 233 



LOVE AND TRUTH. 

The paramount love of truth, the ingenuous open- 
ness of mind, constitutes the true nobility of nature, 
which is not derived by blood, nor conferred by princes. 

I would not, for the credit of all Mr. Pope's poetry, 
have been guilty of being the author of those two 
famous, I might say, infamous lines, in which he speaks 
slightingly of truth. 

It is but a little truth that we get by intuition, only 
the axioms of science, the first principles of knowledge. 
And every thing beyond intuition, requires study and 
labor, and these will not be granted without an ardent 
love of truth. Men of the greatest minds have all paid 
this price for truth. It was not by merely looking up 
to heaven and listlessly asking, "What is truth]" that 
Newton made his sublime discoveries in astronomy. Nor 
did the putting of that question once, draw forth from 
the mind of Locke, the principles of his Essay on the 
Understanding. Nor did one interrogation of nature, 
reveal those secrets which Bacon and Boyle have com- 
municated to the world. No ; they repeated the ques- 
tions, they studied, they implored, they waited, they 
sought for truth as for hid treasure, and at length their 
faithfulness and perseverence were rewarded. If such 
men, in pursuit of such truth thus acted, shall we 
expect to find the knowledge of God, without a patient, 
and industrious, and candid course of inquiry, renoun- 
cing prejudice, and imploring light from God's Spirit? 
20* 



234 SELECT REMAINS OF 



TRUTH AND CHARITY. 

The spirit of Christianity is entirely liberal in its 
desires, prayers, efforts, and communications, but not of 
course in its opinions ; for there is no room for liberality 
in reference to these. A liberal Christian, if the term be 
intended to characterize him with respect to his religious 
sentiments, is an absurdity. We must believe accord- 
ing to the facts and evidence within our reach. What 
it appears to us that the scriptures teach, after a close 
and prayerful examination of them, we must believe. 
And were our hearts enlarged to entertain all the 
charity of heaven, it could not alter, and it ought not to 
alter, our belief. Charity can never affect our belief, 
but by first affecting the things believed. We can 
change our creed only by changing, what is manifestly 
impossible, the facts and truths comprehending our 
creed. We often hear it said by men, that they have 
charity for all, meaning thereby, that they believe all 
are in a safe condition in reference to a future state, or 
that those who live under the influence of Paganism 
or Mahomedanism, are about as well off, as those who 
live under the Christian system, and one Christian de- 
nomination scarcely to be preferred to another. Now 
whether there be truth in this, is another question ; but 
there is certainly no charity in it. There may be charity 
in connexion with this belief. But there may be quite 
as much in connexion with the opposite belief. Charity 
does not qualify opinions, but affections and actions. Feel 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 235 

charitably, act charitably, think truly. If one's charity 
is to be decided by his own opinions, as in common par- 
lance, liberal or illiberal, then what was he, in respect 
of charity, who said, " Strait is the gate and narrow is 
the way that leads to life, and few there be that find 
it." Was he not charitable, yea, charity's self] Yet you 
see what an opinion he expressed. It is said, "we must 
have charity :" — so we must, else with all things beside, 
we are nothing ; but we must also know what charity 
is. Whether is not he more charitable, who goes and 
spends his life and employs his talents in the self- 
denying service of a missionary to the heathen, even 
supposing him to act on an error of judgment, than 
he who stays at home, and sitting in the midst of his 
comforts, proclaims that the heathen are as well off 
without the Gospel as with it 1 I cannot help deciding 
in favor of the former, that he is more like Paul, — like 
Jesus. Ah, it is easy to talk charitably, and, (if you 
like the language,) to think charitably; but to entertain 
charity in the heart and to enthrone it there, and from 
its deep impulses to act and to endure, with constancy 
and without wearying, therein lies the difficulty of 
charity, "the labor of love." Paul would not have 
been considered as very charitable in his opinions ; but 
in his desires, in his deeds, and in his ordinances, what 
mere mortal ever went beyond him. 



SELECT REMAINS OF 



HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS. 

Few of the secular duties of life, lawfully pursued, 
require more than the hands and the occasional atten- 
tion of the mind. One of the most profoundly meta- 
physical books that ever was written, was all thought 
out upon a shoemaker's bench. Might, not that mind 
have been in heaven 1 As to those things (for there 
are such,) that cannot properly be attended to without 
engrossing the whole mind, let the mind for the time, 
be given to them, for, if lawful, they interrupt not the 
heavenly conversation more than sleep does. 

It requires much of the spiritual mind to enable one 
to leave this world without regret, and enter the other 
without fear. 

The secret of enjoying this world, is in having the 
heart fixed upon the next. So strange a thing is this 
world, that if you look to it for satisfaction, it will de- 
ceive and disappoint you ; but if you look away from it 
to God, it will pursue you with blessings. The man, 
whose hope riseth to God, hath not only freed himself 
from its tyranny, but hath gained an absolute dominion 
over it ; so that whether it smile or frown — whether it 
gives or withholds, it is all the same with him who 
lives upon the unfailing promise that " all things shall 
work together for good to them that love God." 

It is ignoble in you to be greatly pleased with the 
world. You are living below the privileges of your 
birth, while you are satisfied with these paltry things. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 237 

It is unworthy in you thus to prefer the footstool to the 
throne — the badge of servitude to the crown of empire. 
It is doing injustice to that spirit within you, which 
reckons its descent from God, which drew its first 
breath from the inspirations of the Almighty, and lives 
in God, to present it with these vanities, and bid it be 
satisfied with a heap of dust, when it ought to have a 
cluster of glories ; to feed it with the poor applause of 
men, when it covets the high approbation of its Maker ; 
to reduce it to the lowness of worldly pleasure, when it 
should be panting after the pleasures which are ever- 
more at God's right hand. 



A HOLY LIFE. 

There is one important sense in which the evidences 
of Christianity are not wholly independent of the 
character of its professors. John xvii, 21. 

The way to prove to men the reality of religion, is to 
let them see its moral efficacy. If you would make a 
salutary impression on a sinner, you must first make 
him dissatisfied with himself. This, the bare incul- 
cation of holy doctrine will not do. But the exhibi- 
tion of holy practice will do it. If Christian holiness 
be only preached, men will say, it is unattainable — it is 
an impracticable thing ; but if it be exemplified, this 
objection, which seems as a coat of mail to conscience, 



238 SELECT REMAINS OF 

is set aside ; and Christian virtue is shown to be attain- 
able, because attained ; and seen to be attainable — is 
felt to be obligatory. " How far a little candle sheds 
its beams ; so shines a good deed in a naughty world." 
A good character emits a continued stream of holy light, 
teaching, cheering, impressing, reproving all on whom 
it shines. Evil doers who hate the light, find it far 
more practicable to escape from the truth as preached 
or as taught in Holy Scripture, than as it is lived and 
acted in the intercourse of good men. 



KNOWLEDGE. 

It is remarkable that when Paul asked but one thing 
for his Ephesian converts, that one thing was knowledge. 
Ephesians i, 17. In another place, he sa) r s, "I count 
all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge 
of Christ." Solomon says, " That the soul be without 
knowledge is not good." And God, by Hosea, com- 
plains that his " people are destroyed for the lack of 
knowledge." There is a still stronger statement on 
the subject, made by our Lord Jesus Christ himself : 
"And this is eternal life, that they might know thee, the 
only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." 
Again it is predicted : " By his knowledge shall my 
righteous servant justify many." The Scriptures every 
where attach the greatest importance to knowledge; 



WILLIAM KEVINS, D. D. 239 

and it is a grand commendation of them, and an illus- 
trious proof of their divinity. This is right, for ex- 
perience and practice both are dependant on knowledge. 
That cannot be felt or done, which is not first known. 
There may be knowledge without religion, but there 
cannot be any true religion without knowledge. There 
may be a foundation without any superstructure ; but 
there cannot be a superstructure without a foundation. 
Knowledge is the foundation. It must be laid first, 
though it were as well not laid, as not built upon ; yea, 
better never laid, if not built upon ; for it is the con- 
demnation of some, that light is come into the world. 
The truth had better never be held than held in un- 
righteousness. Knowledge is power only in case it be 
applied. Paul did well, therefore, to ask knowledge for 
the Ephesians. He knew that only as they increased 
in knowledge, could they make progress in holiness — 
that only as they knew more of God, could they ad- 
vance in the love of him — that only as they knew more 
of sin, could their abhorrence of it increase — and that 
just in proportion as their views of heaven were clear, 
would its attractions be felt by them, and their affection 
set on things aboye. 

But there was another and stronger reason why he 
asked knowledge for them. There is a knowledge 
which never ends in mere speculation — a science which 
no one ever learns without reducing it to practice — an 
illumination of the understanding, which is always 
accompanied with a renovation of the heart and a 
purification of the affections. Yes, as there is a knowl- 
edge, which is like the cold light of the moon, so there 



240 SELECT REMAINS OF 

is a knowledge which is like the radiance of the sun, 
every beam as warm as it is bright, and every ray as 
opposite to cold and death, as to gloom and darkness. 
Sun of righteousness ! such is thy blest radiance. It 
irradiates all that is dark ! It enlivens all that is dull 
— warms all that is cold — melts all in us that is hard, 
and vivifies what is dead. There are lessons which 
a man cannot learn without the help of his heart. In 
illustration and confirmation of this doctrine, it is said 
in the Scriptures, " he that loveth not, knoweth not 
God." There is a volume of instruction in that short 
statement. It teaches that a man cannot have right 
apprehensions of God, unless he has right affections in 
exercise towards him. No wonder they have erroneous 
notions of God, who love not his character so far as 
they are acquainted with it, and do not his will so far 
as they know it. For " if any man will do his will, he 
shall know of the doctrine." Do you wonder that bad 
men are infidels] Is it strange that ambitious men are 
unbelievers 1 " How can ye believe, wbo receive honor 
from one another, and seek not the honor that cometh 
from God only t" 

The reason men have so little faith ^ is that they have 
so little practice. God withholds further knowledge 
from men, because they already know so much more 
than they do. They wish to leave the first principles 
of the doctrines of Christ, and go on to the knowledge 
of deeper mysteries, when they have not laid the 
foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith 
towards God. There is no more important act of 
a man, than his coming to Christ. It is the act on 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 241 

which his salvation is suspended. Now how is this act 
brought about 1 Hear : " It is written in the prophets, 
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, 
therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the 
Father, conieth unto me." You see how it stands 
connected with knowledge. Well might the apostle 
express his affectionate anxiety for the Ephesians in 
asking further such knowledge. It was virtually ask- 
ing further holiness, and indeed every thing. What 
does any one want more, than that wisdom which is 
from above, and which is first pure, then peaceable, 
gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good 
fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy? — a 
wisdom of which the very beginning is the fear of tha 
Lord, the principle of all holiness. In asking for them 
such light, he asked for them love also. This is moral 
wisdom. 



CONTROVERSY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 

There are other reasons why Christians should pray 
that the Lord of the harvest should send forth more 
laborers besides those mentioned by Christ ; and among 
them, I reckon this one, that many of the laborers have 
left off work, and have converted the field of labor into 
an arena of conflict. They are using their implements 
of husbandry against each other. Oh, how they cut 
21 



242 SELECT REMAINS OF 

each other ; and how pleased they are when they have 
dealt a severe blow. That was a good one, they say. 
In the mean time the harvest rots, or is not reaped. 
[Written on his death bed.] 



DIFFERENCES OF OPINION. 

I would as readily be a heretic as a pugilist. It is 
almost as well not to speak the truth, as to speak it 
not in love. 

If St. John was writing- to the ministers, and officers, 
and member of the church in our day, would he address 
them as "little children"? Are they such in temper 
and "in malice'"? 1 Cor. xiv, 20. 

If we are commanded to contend for the faith, are we 
not also commanded to walk La love, and to follow peace, 
and the things which make for peace ? It don't mar 
the beauty, or impair the efficacy of truth to speak it 
in love. 

I am determined not to quarrel with other evangelical 
bodies of Christians, so long as I see that enemy there, 
and Christ, the captain, calling me to take the field 
against him. Let us go and make mankind Christians 
first, and then we will sit down and discuss whether 
they should be of our denomination or not. Long 
ere that our bodies shall have been laid in their last 
repose, and our souls shall be leaning on the bosom 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 243 

of the Beloved in glory — and we shall all be of one 
heart; and Wesley, and Fuller, and Leighton, and 
Calvin, and Luther, shall be forgotten, and Christ 
alone remembered. 

I am no metaphysician. I have no skill in splitting 
hairs. Nor am I a partisan. I don't belong exactly to 
either of the schools. I am something of an eclectic. 
There are many things about the old school that I like. 
I am of opinion that it is none the worse for being old. 
There are some things about the new school that I 
don't greatly object to. I suspect, after all, that both 
the schools have the same Master, though in each, 
some things are learned, as is apt to be the case, which 
the Master does not teach. I think the scholars of both 
the schools ought to love one another. I am persuaded 
the Master loves both. I wish they would love each 
other, and leave off calling names, and dealing out sar- 
casm, and indulging suspicions of each other, and impu- 
ting, a bad motive, when it is not certain but it might 
have been a good one. Oh, I wish they would; I desire 
it for charity's sake ; I desire it too for truth's sake ; — for 
the way to think alike, is first to feel alike. Nothing 
tends more to make people of one mind than being of 
one heart. If they feel heart to heart, they will be apt 
to see eye to eye. I wish the brethren would, in putting 
matters right, begin at this end. We have tried the 
other end. I wish for the sake of sound doctrine that 
the brethren would love each other. For one, I am 
determined to do so. I will not call any brother a fox, 
though he should have some degree of management 
about him ; nor a bear, though he may not have all the 



244 SELECT REMAINS OF 

civility in the world ; nor a snake in the grass, be- 
cause he does not reveal to me all his plans. If I really 
do fear that any one called a brother, bears none of the 
lineaments of the First Begotten, I will tell the Lord 
my fears, and pray for him ; and before I have done at 
the throne of grace, I will say, "Search me, O, God, and 
know my heart : try me and know my thoughts, and see 
if there be any wicked way in me." 



CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH. 

" Contend earnestly for the faith." This is strong 
language, but the original is still more forcible. The 
Greek term here employed, was the one commonly used 
to describe the exertions made by those who engaged in 
the celebrated ancient games. It represents the Chris- 
tian faith as a prize, for the maintenance and propaga- 
tion of which, Christians should enter the lists and put 
forth all their powers. It was to be expected that 
opposition would be made to the truth, for it was con- 
fessed to be a system not at all to the taste and liking 
of proud and prejudiced men. Opposition had indeed 
shown itself, even in that apostolic age. Certain men 
had crept in unawares, ungodly men, turning the grace 
of God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord 
God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude foresaw that 
this opposition to the simple Gospel, would increase, 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 245 

and extend, and become more formidable. And it was 
not a phantom that flitted before his vision. In every 
age, the truth has been opposed, and the light hated 
and eschewed. It is so even now. 

The importance of truth and the prevalence of error, 
together, prove the necessity of contending for that 
most precious portion of truth, called in Scripture "the 
faith once delivered to the saints." But how shall we 
be prepared to contend for this great prize 1 First, 
distinguish carefully and accurately between truth and 
error. Ascertain what is the faith once delivered to 
the saints. Do not put on your armor and engage in 
the conflict, until you know that you are on the right 
side. Take good heed that you be not found fighting 
in the ranks of error. Inform yourself before you under- 
take to instruct or rectify another. 

If it be not easy to discern the distinction between 
truth and error, it is nevertheless practicable, even for 
.one of moderate understanding, and comparatively little 
leisure. A man's success and progress in the knowledge 
of the truth of God, is not in proportion to the vigor of 
his intellect, the depth of his research, and the amount 
of time that he employs in the study. An humble and 
teachable disposition, inclining one to sit, as Mary did, 
at the feet of Jesus, and learn of him, is more effectual 
to the attainment of that knowledge which is effectual 
to salvation, than years spent in the most intense 
application of the mightiest unaided powers to the sub- 
ject. It takes no long time to learn the true meaning- 
of the word of God; but to make the word of God speak 
a meaning by dint of misinterpretation, that shall chime 

91* 



246 SELECT REMAINS OF 

in with our prejudices and sanction our practice, may 
require much time and more toil. 

It is cne grand advantage we have in the search of 
truth, that all of it, which is pertinent to salvation, is 
contained in a single volume. This is the record of 
truth. This is our creed, in a sense in which no for- 
mulary is. We express a creed often in our own lan- 
guage, in conversation and in preaching, and we may 
write it, and print it, and make it a bond of union ; but 
the Scriptures are the source and support of it. We 
believe it only so far as we suppose we have proven it 
to be according to the Scriptures. These Scriptures 
must be read — must be searched, and candidly com- 
pared. But this is not all. Alas, for that man who 
has no practical regard to the admonition: "if any lack 
wisdom, let him ask of God," — who applying his own 
faculties to the study of the Bible, does not invoke the 
aid and instruction of the divine interpreter, and who 
does not study often upon his knees. Man in no man- 
ner ever penetrates so easily and deeply into the pro- 
fundities of divine knowledge, as by prayer. You must 
pray if you would learn these heavenly lessons. And 
you must also carry out the truth so far as known into 
practice. Remember this maxim, " If any man will do 
his will, he shall know of the doctrine." If you know 
the truth in part, you are not to wait until you know 
the whole before you begin to practice any of it. If 
the truth you have, you hold in unrighteousness, it is 
merciful in God to let you have no more, lest holding 
that also in unrighteousness, you but aggravate the 
more your condemnation. Ah, how many there are 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 247 

inquiring into the subject of religion, and studying the 
Scriptures, while yet they are neglecting the elemen- 
tary and obvious duty of repentance. They wish to 
know what is right, while yet they are doing what 
they know to be wrong. No wonder they are no more 
successful in their researches. Would to God they 
would adopt the course just suggested. 

Secondly. Having distinguished truth from error, 
the next thing is to set a proper value on the distinction. 
For the conflict in the cause of truth, this prepares a 
man, and this sustains him in it. However accurately 
a man may discern the distinction in question, yet if he 
regards it as unimportant, if he adopts the sentiment 
that it matters not what a man believes, how will he, 
or why should he contend for it 1 In his opinion, it is 
not worth contending for. Practice, he affirms to be 
the great matter, just as if practice were not the carry- 
ing out of principle — virtue the operation of truth, and 
sin the elaboration of error. How can it be supposed 
that if the distinction between truth and error were not 
of the first importance, God would have made a revela- 
tion for the purpose of drawing the line that separates 
them 1 It is passing strange, that a man, with the 
Bible in his hand and reason in exercise, should say it 
is no matter what one believes, provided only he be 
sincere ; that is, provided only he does believe it, for 
sincerity means no more. This sentiment, making 
sincerity every thing, makes hypocrisy the only evil. 
It is an evil, and a great one, but not the only one. 

One of the most ingenious, as well as one of the most 
successful devices of the enemy of mankind, is that of 



248 SELECT REMAINS OF 

undervaluing and bringing into disesteem the distinc- 
tion here considered. He would fain have us con- 
found virtue and vice, holiness and sin ; and he begins, 
by persuading us to confound truth and error. " I 
believe that no error is innocent, and that if we could 
trace the effects of erroneous opinions on the secret 
traits of human character, we should find that every 
shade of error has a counterpart in the moral feelings." 
This able writer here points us to that which gives 
value and importance to the distinction between truth 
and error. It is that our feelings and actions are and 
must be according to our belief. Can a man love, and 
serve, and honor, and confide in a being whose charac- 
ter he misunderstands] — or if he should do all these 
through error, will the true God consider service done 
to another god, as done to him? Having made the 
distinction between truth and error, set a proper, and 
that will be a high value upon it. 

Thirdly. Show the superiority of truth over error by 
its moral influence on your conduct. This is not only 
one excellent way of illustrating the reality and value 
of the distinction between truth and error, but it is a 
very suitable and efficient manner of contending for the 
truth. You can do the cause of truth in no one way so 
much good as by silently living it. Why do men say 
it is of little consequence what is believed, but because 
they see so little moral efficacy in the boasted faith of 
Christians — because there is so much dead principle, so 
much heartless and lifeless orthodoxy visible to them. 
Carry out your theory into practice, let truth exist as a 
living principle in you, exhibit an efficient orthodoxy, 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 249 

be as scriptural in your conduct and temper, as you are 
in your opinions, and the world will be compelled to 
acknowledge the value of truth ; and will see that you 
possess it. Ah, that this might be done. Who can con- 
template the articles of your belief, ye Christians, and 
see how elevating, how inspiring, how purifying they 
are, and not exclaim, " what manner of persons ought 
ye to be" ! And yet what are youl How unlike what 
it might be expected you would be ! And wt^r, but be- 
cause there is something that obstructs the operation of 
your belief? You, even you, to some extent, hold the 
truth in unrighteousness. You are bound to be the 
best of men, for you have the means of being the best. 
You have the fullest and the clearest knowledge of the 
truth. Are you examples of this moral superiority 1 

Fourthly. Be careful that your motive in contending 
for the faith be such as a holy and benevolent God will 
approve. He will be satisfied with nothing less than a 
care for his glory and a love for the souls of men. Be 
careful also that your object be not to gain the reputa- 
tion of prowess as a combatant ; not to enjoy the honor 
and exultation of victory ; not to promote the strength- 
ening of a party, but to honor God and save men. 
Let not ambition actuate you, nor a partisan zeal, nor 
the paltry spirit of proselytism, but charity, loving both 
God and man unfeignedly. Espouse the cause of right 
thinking, chiefly for the sake of right feeling and right 
acting. Contend for the faith mainly on account of 
the holiness and the eternal life with which it stands 
connected. If such be your motive, your manner" of 
contending will be unexceptionable ; with such an end 



250 SELECT REMAINS OF 

in view, so noble and so benevolent, you can hardly 
fail of adopting - the most judicious means of attaining 
it. You will contend earnestly, by how much you love 
the souls of men and desire their salvation, but you will 
not contend impatiently and angrily. If pity move, 
passion cannot agitate you. There is an impatience 
often exhibited in controversy even by those who carry 
no worse feeling into it. We get wearied and fretted 
with persons that are in error. We see a thing clearly 
ourselves, and we are out of patience with others that 
they cannot discover it too. We are amazed at their 
stupidity or obstinacy, and exclaim against it. But this 
is not " in meekness instructing them, that they may 
recover themselves out of the snare." That charity 
Avhich rejoices in the truth, suffereth long, and is not 
easily provoked. 

It is the manner in which religious .controversy has 
been conducted, that has brought it into disrepute, and 
not any thing unworthy in the thing itself. Contro- 
versy is worthy, is lawful, yea, often obligatory. Every 
minister is bound in some sense to be a controversialist, 
much more they who are set for the defence of the Gos- 
pel. We must " contend earnestly for the faith." But 
some have understood "earnestly" to mean angrily; 
and for the warmth of love, have substituted that of 
passion. Ambition having too often been their motive, 
and victory their object, their measures have been 
violence, denunciation, sarcasm, intolerance. Selfish, 
rather than benevolent considerations, influencing them, 
they have tried how severe and cutting the)^ could be, 
and what smart and sarcastic things they could say, 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 251 

and how they could provoke or expose an antagonist. 
And an observant world looking on, and being disquiet- 
ed, has, in its haste, condemned all controversy, and 
suffered even truth to sink in its estimation. Such 
unfriendly turn have the avowed friends of truth too 
often done her. 



THE MINISTRY. 

What holiness and gifts are required in the ministry. 
Look at one duty. Every administration of the Lord's 
supper, ought as far as possible to be like its first cele- 
bration. At such a time, it falls to the minister of 
Christ to take the head of the table, to sit (who does 
not tremble at the thought) in the seat which the Lord 
Jesus Christ occupied, to do his actions and say his 
words. "Who is sufficient for these things ?" 

We ought to preach as if the whole success of the 
Gospel depended on our manner of presenting the 
truth; yet we ought humbly to pray, remembering that 
the whole efficacy of our preaching depends solely on 
God. 

There is a great deal of preaching which is only di- 
dactic, coldly argumentative, merely indicative, simply 
inviting. It teaches, reasons, points, and invites ; but 
does not apply, entreat, warn, expostulate, persuade. 



252 SELECT REMAINS OF 

The preacher seems satisfied with having - done, as he 
supposes, his duty, and does not appear to care much 
whether the hearers do theirs or not. Such preaching- 
will not do. It does not succeed. It does not fulfil the 
commission. It does not please God. 

We have sheep wandering without a shepherd, and 
we have almost as many shepherds wandering- without 
sheep. Formerly it was not so. Then the lack was of 
laborers. Now many stand idle, because none employs 
them. They cannot find any part of the harvest where 
it suits themselves and all hands, that they should 
thrust in the sickle and reap. This is a very popular 
objection now to the education cause. 

Ye ministers of Christ, let the ardor ye diffuse, be 
that of the Gospel. Let it not be even scented with 
your own philosophy. And think not to make it 
agreeable to natural sense. 

It is a strange mistake of some, that the authority 
and obligation to preach the Gospel to any creature, is 
founded upon his conviction of his need of it and his 
disposition to receive it. 

What if some of us make you promises of salvation 
on such and such terms, provided God does not ? We 
may soothe you, but can we save you? What will our 
passport avail *? 

If God did no more for sinners in regeneration, than 
some affirm he does; if, as they say, he went no farther 
than to employ moral suasion, never a sinner would be 
saved. At all events, it would be improper for us to 
pray for any one's salvation, for then we should be ask- 
ing God to do more than it is proper for him to do. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 253 

There was never a more absurd and un scriptural 
assertion made, than that in preaching the Gospel and 
persuading men to repentance, no appeal should be 
made to fearful apprehensions. It arraigns the conduct 
of the Son of God, and condemns the practice of his 
apostles, who, because they knew the terrors of the 
Lord, persuaded men. 

In preaching the Gospel, let all sinners know that 
we never see so much depravity in ourselves, as Christ 
saw in us, when he consented to die for us. Let this 
encourage all to come to him. 

There is a point, beyond which, to seek the assistance 
of a brother in an excited state of feeling, in a pastoral 
charge, is leaning on an arm of flesh. 

As a general fact, the relations of the present life 
cease, when life itself terminates. These silken threads 
part when the silver cord is loosed. But there is one tie 
connecting souls, that does not part even then. There 
is one relation that survives death, that will outlast the 
resurrection, that will be recognized at the judgment, 
and be dissolved only when the business of that im- 
portant day is finished ; and that tie, which death, that 
sunders every other, shall respect, is the moral tie that 
binds the pastor, in all his conscious imperfection and 
unworthiness, to his congregation, and which connects, 
though not so closely, every one that only preaches the 
.Gospel to those who hear it from him. We meet not 
each other for the last time, when one of us closes his 
eyes in death. We part not finally at the dying bed. 
Oh, no, we shall meet again, if not before, yet on the 

morning of the resurrection day; and by the light of the 

22 



254 SELECT REMAINS OF 

last sun-rising, we shall assemble in the great con- 
course before the tribunal that shall be erected in mid- 
heaven. But we shall not merely meet. We shall 
meet as pastor and people. The judge will have respect 
to this relation, and we shall vividly remember it. This 
doctrine is plainly taught by Paul, when he speaks of 
"presenting his hearers perfect in Christ Jesus," when 
he says, that his spiritual children are to be his " hope 
and crown of rejoicing in the presence of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, at his coming," and when he says that those 
" who watch for souls must give account." 



VISITATION OF THE SICK. 

There are two classes of men to whom the world 
presents itself in an aspect which is hid from the mass 
of mankind. The physician and the pastor look on 
men from a prospect-ground peculiarly their own. 
They see man not in the might of his mind, or in the 
vigor of his frame, when he comes out in the morning 
the fair handiwork of Heaven, and conscious sovereign 
of all under God. They look on him in his prostration 
and misery ; visit him when under the depression of 
grief, and in the impatience and feverishness of pain ; 
they hear all his repinings — see all his weaknesses and 
tears, and know better than others, how poor and hum- 
ble a thing he comes to be before he dies. They see 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 255 

him not in the touching grace and' attitude of the 
sublime Apollo, but in the recumbent and distorted 
posture of the suffering Laocoon. Others walk on the 
surface of society, — they penetrate to the core. And it 
is like being conversant with different worlds. Without 
and in the street, all is hilarity and joy of heart, and 
the gay spirit of life predominates. But it is only the 
opening of a door, or the stepping into a cellar, and the 
scene is all changed. Man, the goodly child of Heaven, 
the fellow of him who was seen in all the alertness and 
joy of life, made after the same pattern, and breathed 
into by the same Spirit, is laid out in languishment and 
death, too poor for aught but pity, his sinking pulse and 
laboring heart betokening how little of the little span 
is left him. 

To these scenes, both come on the work of benev- 
olence, but they occupy different departments. The 
curer of the body, knows his toils and anxieties. Let 
him first do his work and be gone. Oh, then, to sit 
down by the bedside, at the moment when the phy- 
sician shakes his head and retires, and all that is seen 
and heard, betokens that the sick is given over ; at 
that moment of wound-up interest, to press gently the 
wasted hand, and if the sick be a child of God, to make 
the skilful application of the Gospel's comforts ; to 
select and present the chapters which the Spirit has 
written for the dying ; to tell of the rod and staff of 
Jehovah to comfort ; and how precious in his eyes is 
the death of his saints ; or if he be not a child of God, 
cautiously to alarm, and gently to press home the fre- 
quent invitation, the encouraging promise, the riches of 



256 SELECT REMAINS OF 

the Father's tender mercies, and the impressive testi- 
monies of the Saviour's love ; with these, and with the 
fearful alternations, to win, if he can, the poor soul, 
whose night is just at hand. What a task ! Yet this 
must, he do, and continue to do, as he has opportunity, 
till the latest coming and decisive token of death sits 
upon the body, till the ear has lost it hearing, and the 
soul's last signal-light is withdrawn. In doing this, he 
shall clear his own soul, assist God's children in their 
last conflicts, and peradventure pluck brands from the 
burning. 

If the whole system of Christianity be not a tissue of 
error, if the doctrines of depravity, repentance, and re- 
demption through faith in another, have the testimony 
of the Bible, and be not the dogmas of a sect, if it be 
not a delusion, that impenitence and neglect of the 
Gospel, jeopard the soul, if all the apprehensions that 
darken and distract the sick man's mind, be not of 
superstition's creating, if it be not the dream of de- 
lirium, that there are those who lie on their last made 
bed, without hope and without God, if it be not a wild 
and headlong fanaticism to meddle with a man's last 
hours, and to converse with him on the things that 
belong to the sweetness of his sleep in death and the 
peace of his soul in eternity, but if it be a duty, solemn 
and imperative, then is it the most interesting, the most 
delicate, the most trying to the spirit, the fullest of 
anxieties and perils of all that can fall under the office 
of a servant of Christ. It is like standing on the 
nearest brink of eternity, and conversing with the spirit 
of another world. And if an intense and alarming 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 257 

anxiety did not preside over the whole scene, we should 
call it the most sublime on this side of the grave. But 
it offers no leisure for contemplation ; it is all a scene 
of hurried action. No step then taken can be retraced, 
no word spoken, recalled. What is done, must be done 
quickly. There is no time for consultation or experi- 
ment, but he who undertakes the work, must apply 
hastily his glass and spy out every delusion and false 
refuge of the soul. He must be acquainted with all 
the folds and entanglements of the heart, and study 
the whole anatomy of that wounded spirit which he 
seeks to cure. "Who is sufficient for these things'?" 
All of which must be done, if he would save himself 
and them that hear him. 



THE CHURCH. 

That portion of the world which is occuped by the 
church, is morally related to all the rest, in the maimer 
that a carefully cultivated vineyard is to the unenclosed 
and unfilled common. 



258 SELECT REMAINS OF 



SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL. 

That man is no friend to civil liberty, however he 
may profess to be, who does not desire to see its princi- 
ples universally recognized, and its blessings every 
where enjoyed, and a perpetual end put to all tyranny 
and thraldom. So neither is he a friend and lover of 
the liberty wherewith Christ makes the soul of man 
free, who does not desire, and pray, and labor, that this 
liberty may be extended throughout the earth, and 
enfranchise every human soul. 



MISSIONS. 



In assigning the causes of the inconsiderable success 
of modern missionary exertions, perhaps as the foremost 
of all, should be mentioned the unworthy conduct of 
those who have borne the Christian name among un- 
evangelized nations. The missionary has every where 
been preceded by the avaricious trader and the reckless 
adventurer, and by those who have not only disgraced 
the name of Christian, but have fallen below the now 
degraded name of man. Such have been the specimens 
of Christianity set before the votaries of the various 
systems of false religion. How should they not have 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 259 

taken up a prejudice against a system, whose professors 
afforded an example of all that is despised and hated 
in the human character 1 When the truly Christian 
missionary has gone among them and proclaimed the 
healing virtues of the Gospel, they remember how often 
these Christians have practised deceit, plundered prop- 
erty, and committed murder in their very midst. And 
if the servant of Christ tells them, that such are Chris- 
tians only in name, and that they acted in derogation 
of the whole spirit of the religion they unworthily pro- 
fessed, they will say, " If it had the virtues you ascribe 
to it, it would not have such professors," — or " Let 
your religion reform your own people, and when that is 
done, bring it to us." 

Is it right or magnanimous, by the stale cry of fa- 
naticism, to chill the ardors or check the rlowings of 
benevolence in those who have left all, and gone to dis- 
tant dying nations with the life-giving Gospel. Is it not 
as well and as praiseworthy to go away into the wilder- 
ness, there to teach wild men civilizing and saving 
Christianity, or to go even to India, if so be that we 
may effectually communicate the good news, as it is to 
tempt the snowy tops of Andes — penetrate into the 
interior of Africa, to explore the source of the Niger, or 
to measure an arc of the meridian 1 Is it that the object 
is one of inferior moment 1 No. Is it that less success 
and a wider waste of human life are produced 1 No ; 
yet who says a word against the successive attempts 
that are made in Africa, though all from Park to 
Burckhardt have perished in the undertaking % How 
is it that the high and noble daring of enterprize ceases 



260 SELECT REMAINS OF 

to be admirable, when the object is the carrying of the 
Gospel 1 How is it that we gaze in wonder at our 
fellow-men, and applaud him who makes heavy sacrifi- 
ces and encounters many dangers to add to the stock of 
science ; and keep back our applause from him who does 
the same to enhance the triumphs of religion 1 Why 
is it that you remember and laud the fearless navigator 
that breaks through the mountain ice, to find a new 
channel for commerce, and that you forget or remember 
to despise the more intrepid missionary, that goes to the 
eternal frosts, to preach the love of Jesus to the poor 
shivering natives ] Is it madness to suffer a little for 
him who suffered so much for us 1 Is it glorious to die 
for one's king and country, and not glorious to die for 
our God ? 

If any man loves the cause of Christ' where it is es- 
tablished, he must needs desire to see it established 
where it is not. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 261 



WHY EVERY BODY SHOULD HAVE THE 
BIBLE IN TWENTY YEARS. 

[an unpublished tract.] 
DATED MAY, 1834. 

Fellow Christians; this small treatise which is 
put into your hands, and which you are affectionately 
requested not to put out of your hands till you have 
carefully read it, however extravagant and visionary, at 
first, the design of it may appear to you, avows the 
following object, viz., the supply of the accessible popu- 
lation of the " whole world" with the Word of God, 
within a definite period ; and it intends to plead for the 
speedy adoption, by the American Bible Society, of a 
resolution to undertake, at least, its due share in the 
great work of the universal supply. Your approbation 
of the plan — your agreement in the resolution, and 
your co-operation in its execution are desired and need- 
ed. It is however neither expected nor desired that 
they should be given at our simple request. We there- 
fore beg your serious consideration of some reasons in 
favor of the plan and resolution, which we will now 
respectfully submit. 

The thing proposed is, that the whole world shall 
have the Bible ; and that, to this end, we who have it, 
should rise in the spirit of our Master, and in his 
strength resolve that they shall have it. 



262 SELECT REMAINS OF 

A county first resolved to search out and supply its 
destitute. Scarcely was it said, ere it was done ; and 
every family in Monroe had a Bible. Emboldened by 
this success to a wider enterprize, a Bible Society met, 
and dared to resolve that a state should be supplied; and 
as by magic, the exploring agents appeared, the neces- 
sary funds were contributed, and the work was done. 
Then it was argued, that if one state could be supplied, 
twenty-four states could be. So the great American 
Union became the next object ; and it was resolved by 
her, who having taken the name of American, was now 
acting in the true spirit of that name, that wide, as the 
banner of freedom waves over our land, the leaves that 
are for the healing of the nations shall be scattered. 
And that too has been done. The Bible, if it has not 
been welcomed into every family, has been offered at 
every door. 

Now, this being done, the county, the state, the coun- 
try supplied, what shall we next do 1 Shall we rest from 
our labors 1 Earth is not the spot, nor time the space for 
rest. Nor are we wearied, that we require rest. Our 
work hitherto has not been exhausting toil, but refreshing 
exercise. It has but prepared us for other and larger 
labors. We cannot rest now. We have given our great 
country the Bible, and we have derived such pleasure 
and profit from the benevolent work, that we covet 
more of the kind. The demand is now for a larger 
object — a wider field. 

Accordingly it is proposed that we undertake the 
world; and since there is no Bible Society of the world, 
whose appropriate business it is to resolve for the world, 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 263 

that she, who said, strong in the sense of her weakness, 
" The American Union shall have the Bible," should, 
as on her knees, and with eye lifted in imploring and 
confiding look to heaven, say, "We, in conjunction 
with our sisters of the other continent, resolve to at- 
tempt in the name and strength of our God, to give 
the Bible to the whole world?" 

But will it do? Is it safe to venture on so large a 
resolution 1 Is it the time ? It is true that great enter- 
prises call forth great efforts ; but will not the very 
magnitude of this undertaking, tend to defeat its ac- 
complishment 1 Will it not enervate by alarming % 
Whether it be wise and prudent now to adopt the 
resolution, is matter of opinion. Appeal has already 
been made to this, and many voices from many quarters 
have responded affirmatively. The question has been 
submitted to numerous minds, and they have pondered 
on it, and prayed over it, and without an exception, so 
far as is known, the answer has been, " let the resolu- 
tion be adopted." Numerous ecclesiastical bodies of dif- 
ferent Christian denominations have consulted together 
on the subject, and they have said, " let it be adopted." 
Local Bible Societies, have not only approved the adop- 
tion, but have transmitted their resolutions, urging it, 
and pledging the co-operation of their prayers, efforts, 
and worldly treasures. So that there is more than a 
consent to the resolution. There is a call for it. Now 
what shall the American Bible Society respond to this 
call 1 How shall she treat these grave petitioners 1 
She wants to know her duty. She would not engage 
in any rash enterprise. Neither could she decline 



264 SELECT REMAINS OF 

responsibility. Shall she wait until a louder and more 
general call reaches her ear 1 She will, if her consti- 
tuents say so. She has waited one year, and twenty 
millions of Pagans have, meanwhile, gone, unlit by 
revelation's guiding and cheering light, to eternity. 
She will wait another year, if she must, while the same 
number of millions complete their career of darkness : 
for to the Pagan, the whole course of life lies through 
the valley of the shadow of death. Reluctant as she 
may be to wait, yet wait she will, and look about her, 
though already she sees what sickens her heart, if 
indeed it will not do. But will it not do? Christian 
reader, what say you 1 Ought it not to be done ? I ask 
your attention to this topic. I ask, not whether the con- 
templated resolution, designating twenty years for the 
supply, ought not to be immediately adopted. But ought 
not the world to have the Bible ? Is it not theirs already by 
grant of God 1 — and only not theirs in fact, through the 
most culpable keeping back of man 1 ? Here is a com- 
munication from God, endorsed "to the world." "Unto 
you, O, men, I call ; and my voice is to the sons of 
man." And ought not the world to have it 1 It ■** 
directed to them. Ought it not to be delivered to them 1 
Are they not entitled to the privilege of opening and 
reading the communication, which their God has made 
to them 1 

Nothing can be more plain than that the whole world 
has God's warrant for possessing the Bible." They 
have a right to it. They have a property in it. It is as 
much the Hindoo's and the Hottentot's Bible — as much 
the Turk's and the Tartar's, as it is your's and mine. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 265 

In it, God speaks as really, as directly, and as kindly 
to each of them, as to you or me. Why should we 
have it, and not they 1 Does it not strike you that 
God ought to be heard by as many as he speaks unto 1 
That the publication of his love should go forth far^ 
and be spread wide as that love's extent 1 If " God so 
loved the world" surely, surely the world should be 
informed of that, stupendous and deeply interesting fact; 
And if he who is the propitiation for our sins, is also 
the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, certainly 
the intelligence of that death should be circulated far 
as its efficacy may extend, and "all the ends of the 
earth" should know who it is that says to them, "look 
unto me, and be ye saved." 

But not only have all mankind the same right to the 
Bible, that any of mankind have ; and not only is it 
reasonable that they should hear what God their 
Creator says to them, but they have all equal need of 
the Bible, It contemplates and provides for a case that 
is universal. Does any son or daughter of Adam need 
the Bible? Dost thou 1 ? Then, for the same reasons that 
thou dost, or any one does, each and every child of the 
apostacy needs it. And all supremely, intensely need it- 
need nothing so much-^need nothing in comparison 
with this. It tells of the only balm for the universal 
and fatal disease of sin. Oh, if there was another balm 
of equal virtue, issuing from some other fissure, than the 
cleft of the rock of ages, or if the disease was not ab- 
solutely universal ; or being universal, not uniformly 
fatal, but for the application of this one remedy, then 
the case would not be so strong and so urgent. I ask 
23 



266 SELECT REMAINS OF 

then, ought not the world to have the Bible — to hear 
of Jesus — to be informed of the way of salvation 1 

Certainly it ought, all admit ; but of this number, 
many ask, with more of doubt in their tone and manner 
than seems to befit intelligent and well informed Chris- 
tians, "can it be done'?" Can it be done? The idea 
of its impracticability seems to alarm them. It ought to 
be done. Oh, yes ; but can it be done 1 There are 
several suggestions with which I would attack, and 
hope to dissipate this phantom of impracticability, for it 
is but a phantom. 

1. The attempt to give the Bible to the whole world, 
ought to be made, if for no other reason, to put its prac- 
ticability to the test. How are we ever to know whether 
it can or cannot be done, but by making the attempt to 
do it 1 Its impracticability can never be demonstrated 
by any process of reasoning. It cannot be shown to be 
in the nature of things impossible. If impracticable, that 
can only be known as the result of actual experiment. 
Let us then make the experiment. If it succeed, we 
shall not regret having made it ; neither shall we, if it 
fail. If the thing cannot be done, it is desirable to 
know that it cannot. The experiment will perhaps in- 
form us how far we may hope to extend the word of 
God. It may ascertain the limits of its possible diffusion, 
and of our privilege and duty in spreading it. We may 
learn, and we would like to know, to how many people 
we may hope to convey the "good tidings of great joy," 
which the precentor of the angelic choir on the plains 
of Bethlehem, said should be " to all people." If when 
we go forth with the word of God in our hands, we 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 267 

must stop short of " the ends of the world," we want 
to know how far short we must stop, — into how much 
of the world it is possible to " go and preach the Gos- 
pel," and how many nations we may, without being 
visionary, hope to teach and disciple. Until this ex- 
periment is made, who has a right to pronounce our 
scheme impracticable ? There exists no where, as yet, 
a particle of proof that it cannot be done. 

2. Though the experiment to make the Bible univer- 
sal has not been made, yet the experiment to make 
mankind universally acquainted with the Gospel by 
other means has been tried, and the result of that 
experiment is altogether in favor of the practicability 
of what we propose. The apostles and primitive Chris- 
tians attempted the mighty enterprise of the world's 
conversion. They went forth with the whole human 
family as their object ; and though their number was 
small, their resources limited, and their means of inter- 
course scanty, yet they succeeded in what they under- 
took. Paul, in writing to the Romans, makes this 
appeal, " Have they not heard 1 Yes, verily, their 
sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the 
ends of the world." And in writing to the Collossians, 
he speaks of the Gospel as " in all the world," and as 
" preached to every creature which is under heaven." 
Nor was this any greater success than our Saviour had 
himself predicted, when he said, " And this Gospel of 
the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a 
witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come." 
The testimony of the Pagan Pliny, to the extensive 
spread, and triumphant success of the Gospel, almost 



268 SELECT REMAINS OF 

rivals that of Paul. So then it appears that the ex- 
periment in one form, has been made, and has succeed- 
ed ; and we are furnished with this argument, it can be 
done, for it has been done. « I know it will be said, that 
the apostolic church had the gift of tongues, and the 
power of working miracles, to aid them in the prosecu- 
tion of their enterprise. But their success was not 
mainly owing to these, and it has been contended that 
these, so far from giving them facilities superior to ours, 
were necessary to place their labors on a level with 
ours. If they possessed those two advantages which we 
have not, yet we possess many that they had not. One 
writer enumerates ten distinct particulars in which our 
facilities for conducting missionary operations exceed 
what theirs were. And as it respects their two, if we 
have not the immediate gift of tongues, yet. we have 
the faculty of acquiring languages; and if we cannot 
work miracles, yet have we the benefit of the argument 
in favor of Christianity, which their miracles furnish. 

3. I may as well remark in this place, that it would 
be strange indeed, if our Saviour has explicitly com- 
manded us to do what cannot be done. Why said he, 
"Go ye into all the world," if we cannot go so far 1 
Why "preach the Gospel to every creature," if it is 
impossible to reach every creature ] Why "teach all 
nations," if only a part of the nations can be taught 1 
Can that be impracticable, which he has made obliga- 
tory ? 

4. There is nothing in the nature of the enterprise to 
lead to the suspicion of impracticability. It proposes 
nothing miraculous or preternatural — nothing of a kind 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 269 

different from what has already been done. We have 
supplied a whole country with the Bible. To supply 
the world, is but to do the same thing on a larger scale. 
We have found the nation's supply not impracticable. 
If we find the world's supply impracticable, it will be 
owing not to the nature, but to the magnitude and extent 
of the enterprise. 

5. It should be remembered, that it is not proposed to 
attempt this thing in human strength, and in reliance 
on human resources alone. The question is not, if men 
can do it trusting entirely to their own wisdom and 
might, but can it be done ? Is it practicable with that 
help which may be expected from another quarter ? 
Are there means which we may expect, will prove 
" mighty through God," to the achievement of the 
enterprise 1 

6. If it cannot be done, why can it not 1 Some reason 
ought to be given. What is the insuperable obstacle 1 
Hath not every nation and tribe of men a language ? — 
and if it have not been already, can it not be reduced 
to a written language 1 Can we not arrest and fix 
" the flying sound '"? Has not this been done recently, 
with respect to some, who, till missionaries visited them, 
had no written language ? — and cannot the Bible be 
translated into these languages'? Will any one say 
this cannot be 1 What ! other books, and not the Bible ; 
His book, who is the author of language ! Already it 
is translated into the languages of six hundred and fifty 
millions of mankind. The Chinese translation alone, 
can be read by three hundred and fifty millions. The 

translations prepared by the Baptist missionaries and 

23* 



270 SELECT REMAINS OF 

others in the east, open the Bible to at least one hun- 
dred millions more. Then there is the Arabic transla- 
tion, the Persic translation, and one for Asiatic Siberia, 
now in the press, by which about forty millions, not 
included in the six hundred and fifty, will be supplied ; 
" so that there are probably not more than seventy or 
eighty millions without a translation, and perhaps not 
fifty who have a written or printed language, without a 
translation in part or in whole." The Bible being trans- 
lated, can be printed ; and being printed, can be cir- 
culated. Why not ? What is to hinder 1 — Ah, but the 
expense ! where is the money ever to be obtained ? The 
money exists — and it is all of it the Lord's, whose the 
Bible is : — and the hearts of those who have it in trust, 
are in his hand. Which of us can He not incline, and, 
if the ability do not already exist, which of us can He 
not enable to give for the next twenty years ten times 
the amount, annually, to circulate the Bible, that we 
have given in years past 1 When the resolution to 
supply the Union was taken, the probable cost alarmed 
many, and whence the money was to come perplexed 
and distressed many. But it came. There was no lack. 
Christians increased their gifts. Are they now the 
poorer for it 1 and will they not make an exertion for 
the world 1 Will they not earn, will they not save, will 
they not exhaust their income, aye, and infringe upon 
their principal, to give the world the Word of Life ? I 
I speak of Christians. I speak not of the men of the 
world, but of the men of Jesus Christ. I know they 
will — I feel that they will. My judgment and heart 
both tell me they will. Oh yes, when they shall be 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 271 

appealed to as the followers, friends, representatives, 
and resemblances of Him, who being rich, became poor 
for their sakes, that he might by his poverty enrich 
them ; and when it shall be announced to them that 
we have adopted the last and largest resolution which 
Christian benevolence can take ; a resolution which 
proposes to bear the good tidings of great joy to all 
people, and which breathes the very sentiment of the 
song in which the multitude of the heavenly host 
united, " good will to men ;" when we shall be able to 
tell them that now we have determined to go into all 
the world, to convey the Gospel to every creature, to 
pour the light on every land, and break the news of 
mercy and salvation in every ear ; and that we mean 
to render the name, and translate the story of Jesus 
into every language of mortals, and to pass the cup of 
blessing round the entire circle of the earth, will there 
not be a feeling kindled in every redeemed bosom, such 
as never before warmed it, and will they not pledge us 
their prayers, their efforts, their resources, and their 
sacrifices 1 I am sure they will. How shall they not 1 
I cannot say how much the enterprise will cost. Mil- 
lions of money, doubtless. But what if it does 1 Hath 
never any thing as yet cost millions ? Do millions 
frighten men of the world 1 Doth it deter them from 
an undertaking, that it will cost millions'? Are not 
some of them, aye, and some professed followers of the 
Saviour, themselves alone, worth millions 1 What if 
the universal spread of the Bible should cost as much 
as one year's interest of the national debt of England 1 
What if our proportion of the work should cost as much 



272 SELECT REMAINS OF 

as the private fortunes of some four or five individuals 1 
What if it should cost one fiftieth part of the value of 
the property in a single city 1 What if the expense of 
this enterprise of peace should amount to one twentieth 
part of the cost of one war ] The last short conflict of 
America with England, cost us two hundred millions, 
and our antagonist, it is presumed, no less. Did it 
break the parties 1 Would it ruin them, if they were to 
spend as much, in united efforts under the Captain of 
salvation'? Would it bankrupt these two nations if they 
should resolve in concert, to evangelize the world ? 

But what if the money be obtained, and the Bibles 
printed and paid for, how are they to be distributed? 
How can the destitute be reached 1 Who will act as 
agents 1 Where will you find your men 1 Some of 
them are already on the foreign field waiting for the 
Bible to follow them. Some have been distributing the 
blessed book, and now they call for more copies. There 
are native converts, and there will be more, who will 
gladly engage in the work of distribution. As one reads 
and obtains the blessing, he will pass the book to 
another, and recommend it to a third. The first ten 
years will create and diffuse a spirit, we may expect, 
which will render the labor of the last ten comparative- 
ly easy. The diffusion of the Bible creates a demand 
for the Bible. Besides, the work will not require so 
very large a number of agents. See in the instance of 
Gutzlaff, in China, how much one agent can accom- 
plish — how much space, even in one year, he can travel 
over, and how many Bibles judiciously distribute. Con- 
sider also, how much one man, Dr. Patterson, has done 



WILLIAM KEVINS, D. D. 273 

in the circulation of the Scriptures in the north of 
Europe, and around the Baltic, But how are the 
heathen in the heart of Asia, and in central Africa to 
be reached 1 If they cannot be reached, they fall not 
within the proposed resolution. It contemplates only 
the supply of the accessible population of the world. 
There is an immense population already accessible, and 
some of these have but recently become accessible. God 
is opening the world to his word. Enough is accessible 
to begin with, and who can doubt that as we go on, 
the openings will be multiplied 1 May not the essayists 
of the world's conversion, calculate on the countenance 
and co-operation of the God of Providence, as they 
move forward in the work to which he has called them'? 
Is not our Jesus, at whose command we proceed, head 
over all things to the Church 1 And shall he not reign 
till he hath put all things under his feet 1 

Oh, it can be done. There is no doubt about it. Even 
reason pronounces it possible. I do not say that it will 
be done, though the resolution to do it should be adopt- 
ed. Twenty years may pass away, aye, forty, sixty, 
and the work not be done ; and the Church may have 
to look back with blushes and tears on her neglected, 
broken resolution. The work is not be done by a 
simple resolution to do it, but by the consentaneous, 
appropriate, and persevering action of those who agree 
to the resolution, this action commencing immediately 
on the adoption of the resolution, and proceeding vigor- 
ously from year to year. 

The position I am now endeavoring to establish, is, 
that it can be done, and if another argument be needed 



274 SELECT REMAINS OF 

for the conviction of any mind, I have it — it is derived 
from prophecy. I argue its practicability from its 
certain futurity. It can be done, because it shall be 
done. Yes, it shall be done. All people shall be 
accessible to the word of God, and it shall be con- 
veyed to all. Every family shall one day possess 
in its own native tongue, a copy of the Bible, and 
this book of light and love shall be brought within the 
reach of every hand. Every breeze that blows, shall 
waft the name of Jesus, every valley shall be vocal 
with it — echo from every hill shall reverberate it. It 
shall fall soft and soothing on every ear of man; and 
I trust this name, " That calms our fears, and bids our 
sorrows cease," shall even be precious and peaceful to 
every heart, while every mother shall sit and hush her 
babe to slumber with the hymn that tells of his love 
and sorrows. Yes, it shall be. " The earth shall be 
full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover 
the sea, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." It 
shall be done. This settles the question of practi- 
cability. 

Now I would observe, that whenever it is done, there 
is every reason to believe that its beginning will be 
such as is now proposed. How is it to be done, by what 
agency we know. If men are not to do it, why have 
they received a command to do it 1 If the nations are 
to be taught Christianity in some other way, it is mar- 
vellous that those who are not to do it, have received in- 
structions to do it. If, as some affirm, God will do this 
work in his own time and way, is it not strange that he 
should have set men to do his work, and directed them 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 275 

to go about it immediately 1 Had not this work been 
made to depend in a measure on men's agency, no 
reason can be given why it should not have been done 
ere this. Had God designed to effect it without employ- 
ing subordinate agents, why has he not done it 1 Why 
has not something at least been accomplished without 
human agency 1 Or if he meant to employ other agents 
than men, why has he not before this, sent them to the 
world, and set them to their task. But it is plain men 
are to do it. And they are to do it in their usual way 
of doing things. They are to go and teach and preach ; 
and since the art of printing has been invented, they 
are to avail themselves of that wonderful facility for 
extending and perpetuating knowledge. They are to 
make the Bible universal as they would make any other 
book universal. The only difference is, that in the 
case of the Bible, they have encouragements and ad- 
vantages which, in giving circulation to any other book, 
they could not have. They have the command of God 
to give it to the world. They have his promise that he 
will be with them in the work ; and he assures them of 
ultimate success. 

Men are to do it, and in no mysterious manner, but in 
this plain way. And when the work is undertaken, 
there will be no new and extraordinary call to engage 
in it ; but it will be done in obedience to the well 
known and long neglected command. The obligation 
which has always existed, will only then begin to be 
felt. Again, when the great work is undertaken, it is 
not at all probable that there will be any thing in the 
aspect of Providence more inviting or more auspicious 



276 SELECT REMAINS OF 

than there is now. It will be attempted under dis- 
couragements, we presume, as great as any that are 
felt at present. And whenever the resolution is adopt- 
ed, however late, it will appear to many extravagant 
and rash. It will alarm some. It will excite the de- 
rision of others ; and many a prudent counsellor will 
advise to further delay. Was there ever unanimity and 
extensive co-operation, in the beginning of a great 
enterprise 1 There will not be in this. It must not be 
waited for. The thing has commenced precisely as it 
should have commenced. It has commenced as the 
American revolution commenced, and as the effort for 
the abolition of the slave trade commenced — small, 
still, and among a few. It was conceived in one mind. 
That mind communicated it to others. They consider- 
ed and concurred in it. It passed to others, and they 
approved. Then in their associated capacities, they ex- 
pressed their approbation and recorded their pledges — 
ecclesiastical bodies, and subordinate Bible Societies. 
here the matter stands. We are waiting now for the 
great Bible Societies to resolve and act. And they will 
do it. Yes, they will frame and pass resolutions com- 
prehending the world. 

The British and Foreign Bible Society will resolve 
to do her part, and other Societies will agree to take 
their proportion. On some second Thursday of May, a 
resolution will be introduced before the assembled 
American Bible Society, and unanimously carried, to 
engage forthwith with others, in the too long neglected 
work of furnishing the world with the word of life. It 
may not be in 1835, nor in 1836, but it %cill fee. And I 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 277 

think it nearly certain that the American Bible Society 
will be foremost in the resolution ; but not because she 
is first in strength, and in zeal, for she delights to honor 
another as her superior in both these respects, and she 
would not be first in this enterprise, if she thought her 
act could justly be attributed to the ambition of pre- 
cedence. But God put the conception first into her 
heart, and why should not she move first, whom he first 
moved 1 There are reasons of weight why she should 
lead in the resolution ; and it is presumed that no 
jealousy can be felt any where. She has done already, 
what courtesy required. She has opened her mind to 
her sisters across the water, and they have the opportu- 
nity, if they please, of acting simultaneously with her. 
Let them now act as their judgment shall dictate, and 
let us feel that it is our privilege and duty to do the 
same. 

I have said that the resolution will sometime be 
adopted. The enterprise must commence with a de- 
claration of united determination to do it. The only 
question is, whether the resolution shall be adopted 
now, or some three, five, ten, or twenty years hence. 
Now for the delay of this number of years, some very 
good reasons ought to be assigned. The advantages 
of waiting ought to be very decided and obvious. What 
are they ? Will more information be obtained 1 But is 
it needed? Already we are informed that the world 
lieth in wickedness, and that there is salvation in no 
other than Christ ; and we know what is to be done, 
and hoic it is to be done, and who are to do it. Our own 

duty is obvious. I see not why we should wait for 
24 



278 SELECT REMAINS OF 

more information. Shall we wait to see what others 
will do 1 And why should not they wait to see what 
we will do 1 And what if we all wait for each other 1 
Others may wait with more propriety than we, for we 
are committed to act first. But it is said, " This is a 
great undertaking. It should be entered upon with 
deliberation. Let the Church have a little more time 
to think of it and pray over it." She has or ought to 
have been long thinking of it. I know not why she 
wants more time for thought. Is not her duty mani- 
fest 1 Is not the mode of accomplishing it manifest 1 
And as for prayer, if she has prayed as her Lord has 
taught her, she has always been praying for the very 
thing which the proposed resolution contemplates. 
Daily have her children been saying, "Thy kingdom 
come. Thy will be done on earth, (the whole earth) 
as in heaven," where it is done universally. It is time 
she had resolved to do in the strength of God, what she 
has so long been expressing her desire to have done. It 
is time her resolutions, her aims, and her efforts were as 
comprehensive, and as far-reaching as her prayers. I 
know not why she should pray that God's will may be 
known and done more extensively, than she is laboring 
in dependance on him, to make it known and to cause 
it to be done. Is she instructed to pray for the conver- 
sion of the world 1 — she is also directed to labor for it. 
She may as well limit her prayers as her labors. If she 
prays for the whole, she should act for the whole ; and 
let it be remembered, that the most effectual prayer is 
not that which precedes, but that which attends action. 
We have prayed for the world, without acting for the 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 279 

world, long enough. Now let us pray and act. Will 
any one say, the thing has been put off so long, that 
now the delay of a few years is not worthy of considera- 
tion 1 It may not be to us who have the Bible ; but to 
those who have it not, the delay may be of great con- 
sideration. Fifteen or twenty millions of Pagans have 
died since the initiatory resolution of last year. Death 
did not suspend his operations while we enquired and 
corresponded. He went on with his work, though we 
thought it prudent to pause in ours. And he will go on 
this year. He will not wait with us. 

A question affects us differently, as we vary the state- 
ment of it. " Shall we wait another year or two ? " — is 
the form in which it presents itself to one ; and he 
thinks we had better wait. But in the thoughts of 
another, the question takes this shape, " Shall we let 
twenty or forty millions more go to eternity, before we 
resolve to arise and go to them 1 ?" I must acknowledge, 
that I, for one, feel a pity for the present generation of 
heathen. I feel as if we ought to attempt something 
for the world that now is. If those who are groping 
their way through darkness to the darker grave, knew 
the value of the Bible, and could overhear us delibera- 
ting whether to enter on the work of its universal diffu- 
sion now, or some years hence, how would their hearts 
sink within them, when they should find the weight of 
opinion inclining to delay 1 

But what will be the effect of adopting the proposed 
resolution 1 Does any one doubt that this, if nothing 
else, will be the effect; — that Christians in America, 
will do more, much more in spreading the Scriptures, 



280 SELECT REMAINS OF 

than they have hitherto done, though they should not 
accomplish their resolution to the letter 1 And is it not 
both possible and desirable that they should do more 1 
But, it may be asked, would not a narrower resolution 
lead to this increase of contribution and effort 1 — why 
not, if the object is, that Christians should do more, just 
resolve that we will do more ] But did ever a resolu- 
tion so indefinite accomplish any thing 1 Does any one 
suppose, that a resolution so general and pointless, 
could ever reach and rouse the energies of the Chris- 
tian Church 1 When was any thing great ever achieved 
without a distinct aim and definite object *? 

But why at once propose and present so large an ob- 
ject ? Can we not give it definiteness without making 
it the whole world 1 Why not resolve to supply Amer- 
ica, or Africa, or some one of the great empires of Asial 
Why the whole world 1 I answer, that the latter is 
a more scriptural object than the others. Our first duty 
was to provide for our own. That we have done ; and 
having done that — having passed the limits which 
patriotism defines, it now behooves us to go forth in the 
spirit of philanthrophy, whose object is man, and her 
limits only the ends of the earth. Next to our country, 
stands the world. The transition from the one to the 
other should be immediate. And why should this 
phrase, the world, the whole world, surprise us as if it 
were a novelty 1 Why should its magnitude alarm us 1 
What phrase is more familiar to the Bible 1 It is no 
modern conception. I find it in the proclamation of 
the Father's love. I find it designating the extent of 
the Saviour's sacrifice. The forerunner of Christ, in 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 281 

pointing him out as the Lamb of God, uses it. I find 
Jt in the angelic aothem. I find it in connexion with 
the command of Christ, which constitutes our commis- 
sion. That which bids us go out at all, bids us go into 
all the world ; and we have no promise of the Saviour 
that he will go any distance with us, but one which 
assures of his company through all the length and 
breadth of the earth. And finally, a phrase of corres- 
ponding import is incorporated into our directory for 
prayer. And now shall we be afraid to incorporate this 
most scriptural phrase into an humble resolution 1 Shall 
it stand in connexion with every thing but our aims and 
efforts 1 Really we ought not to be so frightened at 
the suggestion of the whole world, as a field and object. 
If any thing should alarm us, it is the command, so 
long neglected by us, and not the resolution now to 
attempt obedience to it. What do we in undertaking 
this great enterprise, but turn Christ's command into a 
resolution 1 He has said, " Go ye into all the world ;" 
and we unite in saying, " Resolved, that we will go ;" 
and we may add, " Resolved, that we are confident the 
author of the command, will be with us always, even 
unto the end of the world." Is it unreasonable or dan- 
gerous to agree to make the attempt to do, so far as the 
known plan of God contemplates the use of our agency, 
what we are explicitly commanded to do, and directed 
to pray that it may be done? We do not resolve to open 
the way — to make the population of the world accessi- 
ble, but to move forward in the path which Providence 
has opened and is opening ; and to reach what he has 
rendered accessible. We do not resolve that our lives 
24* 



282 SELECT REMAINS OF 

shall be prolonged, or that our zeal shall hold out, and 
burn pure, and high, and constant. For that we de- 
pend on him, in whom, both as men and as Christians, 
we live, move, and have our being. We do not resolve 
that we will stir up the hearts of other Christians, and 
engage them to feel and act with us. Our confidence 
for sympathy and co-operation is in Him, who has all 
hearts in his hand. We expect his assistance and coun- 
tenance at every step and turn. We count upon his 
smile and blessing. We do not expect a welcome from 
the heathen, except as he shall give it. Is it presump- 
tion to rely on him for so much 1 Has he not invited 
such confidence ? Will he ever disappoint it 1 

Why then should we hesitate to frame and adopt a 
resolution embracing the world — that definite object 
which the Lord Jesus himself defined ? 

The history of the progress of the Bible seems to me 
to call for some such resolution. That history has been 
most interesting and indeed astonishing. It is nearly 
eighteen hundred years since the Bible was completed. 
It is four hundred years since the art of printing was 
invented. And yet in 1782, more than seventeen hun- 
dred years after the canon of inspiration was closed, 
and three hundred and fifty years after that art was 
known, by which the word of God is capable of indefi- 
nite multiplication ; in 1782, only about fifty years ago, 
the following fact occurred : Robert Aitken, a book- 
seller of Philadelphia, having obtained a long preamble 
and resolution from the Congress of the United States, 
setting forth the difficulties of printing the Bible in the 
United States, and pledging the national treasury for a 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 283 

certain amount, ventured to publish an edition of the 
Holy Scriptures. Now there is no undertaking which 
requires less daring. There is no book which it is so 
profitable to publish. It was predicted that Bible So- 
cieties would injure private booksellers. But just the 
contrary has been the result. The sales from the book- 
stores have kept even pace with the issues from the 
Bible Societies. It was mentioned at the meeting 
of the American Bible Society, last year, that one 
house had, in the space of a few months, sold twelve 
thousand Bibles. I asked a bookseller how many he 
had sold of a particular edition. He told me the as- 
tounding number, but begged me not to repeat it. I 
suppose he felt that he was reaping a rich harvest, 
which he did not care that others should come in to 
share with him. We see here how private enterprise 
and public charity go along together in the circulation 
of the Scriptures. And private enterprise may be relied 
on to supply the nations to some extent ; perhaps to 
the extent of one third of the Bibles wanted. You 
may resolve to do the work, but you will not have to 
do it all. You will not be permitted to engross it. It 
is but to create a demand by benevolence, and selfish- 
ness will be sure to aid in supplying it. The principal 
progress that has been made in the sale and distribution 
of the Scriptures, has occurred not in the last fifty, but 
in the last twenty or thirty years. Now the question is 
whether this progress shall continue — whether there 
shall be any thing like a corresponding advance in the 
next twenty years. I see not how there can be, unless 
gome such resolution is adopted, as that we propose. 



284 SELECT REMAINS OF 

We are not going forward now. We are going back- 
ward. We have no great resolution now to fulfil. That 
is the reason of it. We have no high aim. 

During the year 1830, the American Bible Society 
expended $166,036,48, the next year $142,658,81, 
and last year $86,362,25. Now ought there not to be 
some existing resolution to keep up the annual income 
and expenditure to that amount which it has once 
reached, and indeed to carry it greatly beyond that? Is 
not the number of Christians increasing every year, and 
their wealth too, every year increasing? Ought not their 
contributions to be augmented also 1 

Will it be said that the year referred to was a year 
of exigency — that a great work had been undertaken 
and was going on, and it was necessary to sustain it by 
extraordinary contribution 1 — and ought not every year 
to be felt to be a year of exigency, while the world is 
not supplied with the Bible ] And is not the exigency 
created by the world's want, greater than that created 
by our country's 1 Not only because the destitute are 
more numerous, but because the destitution is deeper 
and more entire. Then we were supplying those who 
were not altogether without the means of knowing 
what Christianity is. But they who remain to be sup- 
plied, not only know not what Christianity is, but are 
without the means of informing themselves. Does not 
this create a case of exigency ? 

Was a great work going on when that large amount 
was paid in 1 And ought not a greater work to be going 
on now 1 Why was that work undertaken 1 Was it 
done in obedience to any more distinct call of God, than 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 285 

that which now summons us to the supply of the world? 
Ought that amount of contribution which was made 
during the two years in which we were occupied with 
the country's supply, to be extraordinary 1 Can it not be 
borne by the Church and by the country, as an ordinary 
thing 1 Cannot either bear much more 1 It could be 
borne, and much more, even if the money were all 
transported in specie. But this is not the case. Much 
of it will pay for labor done at home. Can it be borne 1 
What a question to ask ! A single city of our country, 
and she but the fourth in wealth, has been able to bear 
the expenditure of millions on a public work, from 
which as yet, but very small returns have been made ; 
and she finds no difficulty in bearing it. She hardly 
knows that she has expended it, and could bear to lose 
it all. 

There is an impression, not only existing on the minds 
of men of the world, but far from being effaced from the 
minds of the disciples of Jesus, that men cannot afford 
to give in any proportion to what they can afford to 
spend. They who feel that they can afford to spend 
thousands, and not for the necessaries and common com- 
forts of life, but in perilous adventure — in uncertain 
speculation, feel that they cannot afford to give even 
tens. It is a mistake that must be corrected. If they 
can make such large and daring expenditures, they can 
give in some proportion to it. And men feel that they 
can afford to sustain great losses, otherwise they would 
not run such large risks, but to make large donations 
they are too poor. I know one who recently lost five 
thousand dollars, and he said, "I care nothing for it," 



\s 



286 SELECT REMAINS OF 

and he spoke the truth. Now that man could have 
afforded to give that amount to a Bible Society. But 
his impression was, that to that cause he could not 
afford to give more than about fifty dollars. The truth 
is, there is nothing we can afford to do more largely and 
liberally than to give into the treasury of the God of 
providence. 

Our blessed Master and model left an example of 
giving, which his disciples have been slow to imitate. 
What proportion gave he ] A hundredth ? A tenth ? 
One half? He gave all. He reserved nothing. He 
was rich, and became poor for our sakes — gave till he 
had given all. And what was the consequence 1 Why, 
the very consequence which the prudent now predict 
and deprecate — personal poverty. He had not where 
to lay his head. He parted with all his accommoda- 
tions, in order to give the world salvation. 

I do verily believe that Christians could, without any 
inconvenient economy, save what would purchase Bibles 
for the world in a very few years. I believe, that with- 
out any additional labor, that would be injurious to 
them, they could earn what would do it. Give us what 
is lost in lotteries. Give us what is consumed in wines. 
Give us but a part of what is appropriated to make and 
keep men drunkards. There are a hundred sources 
from any one of which we might get funds for the 
world's supply with the word of God. And shall it be 
said, " it cannot be done — it ought not to be under- 
taken" 1 It can be done. Can every thing else be done, 
and not this 1 Can a war be waged, a canal be dug, 
a railroad constructed 1 — and cannot the world be 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 287 

supplied with the Bible 1 Secularize the statement of 
the object. Then propose it to the men of the world, 
and ask them if it cannot be done. It can be done ; 
and it must be done. If necessity ever existed, it exists 
in this case. 

But why resolve to accomplish the work in twenty 
years ] Why designate any number of years *? And if 
any, why twenty 1 Why not give time, enough, and 
say forty or sixty 1 

There are several reasons in favor of twenty. There 
is, in the first place, a greater agreement on that num- 
ber, than could probably be obtained for any other. 
Besides, we propose to resolve what we will do, not what 
our successors shall. If we say forty years, the great 
majority of us will not be here to act on the resolution, 
the last moity of those years. Again, our object is to 
do something for the existing generation of heathen, 
and if that is done, it must be done within twenty 
years. Moreover, we find that much may be achieved 
iu twenty years by human enterprise alone ; and may not 
much more by faith which "overcometh the world 1 ?" 
See how much the men of the world can do in twenty 
years — what magnificent works construct — what im- 
portant conquests make — how change the physical and 
political aspect of things in a whole nation — and can- 
not the men of God do as much % 

We scarcely need do more the next twenty years, 10 
accomplish our object, than was done the last twenty, 
in comparison with the twenty which preceded. Is it 
impossible for us to do as much more the next twenty 
years, than we did the last, as in the last, we did 



288 SELECT REMAINS OF 

more than in the twenty which preceded 1 Cannot we 
keep up this ratio of increase 1 It is only necessary to 
do so, and our part of the great work is done. 

But there is another consideration which pleads, if 
not for twenty years, yet for a shorter term. It is that 
after the adoption of this resolution, we may calculate, 
as I allow myself to think, on a more abundant blessing 
from God, than the world has ever yet experienced. 
Since my thoughts have been turned to this great sub- 
ject, it hath occurred to me that probably some such 
movement as that which is now contemplated, is all 
that is wanting on the part of the Church, to that full 
proving of God, which is to be followed by the opening 
of the windows of heaven, and the pouring out of a 
blessing upon her, such, that, she not having room to 
receive it, it shall flow forth to the world. The Church 
has never yet fully proved God. She has always pro- 
posed and attempted less than he has required. She 
has never taken the Bible, and gone out with it, intend- 
ing to go into all the world, and that may be the reason 
why Christ has been no more with her. How can we 
expect the fulfilment of the promise, " Lo, I am with 
you always, even unto the end of the world," unless we 
attempt obedience to the command to which that prom- 
ise stands annexed ? That promise was intended to 
encourage those who should make the conversion of the 
world their object. And we may well suppose that its 
most glorious fulfilment is reserved for the period when 
Christians shall resolve on the conversion of the world. 

Does any one doubt, that if we adopt this resolution, 
and act irfthe spirit of it, its object will be accomplish- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 289 

ed, provided the divine influence which attends our 
labors be as abundant as was that which attended and 
gave efficacy to the labors of the apostolic age 1 With 
our men, and means, and facilities, and their humble 
sense of dependance on God, and looking to him for his 
blessing, would not all which is proposed, be accom- 
plished in twenty years 1 Well, why should not we 
cherish a similar sense of dependance on God *? — and 
expect as large a blessing to crown our efforts, as at- 
tended theirs "? Will never again the Gospel come in 
such power to the hearts of men, and the arm of the 
Lord never again be so gloriously revealed for salva- 
tion 1 Has the Gospel achieved its greatest victories 
already? In the process of becoming universal in its 
dominion and influence, will not a more wonderful 
power attend it, than has ever attended it hitherto 1 
Will not God hereafter make a short work on the earth 1 
Does not that prophecy, which declares that a nation 
shall be born in a day, yet remain to be fulfilled 1 Who 
knows but the period of its fulfillment may fall within 
the next twenty years 1 And if it shall, twenty years 
will be ample for the accomplishment of our resolution'? 

Does any one fear that if the resolution be adopted, 
we shall not be able to answer for it to God 1 Will the 
remembrance of it be a new terror to us in the prospect 
of going to the judgment seat 1 I think not. But if 
we decline to adopt it, I am by no means so sure that 
we shall stand acquitted. 

If the resolution, on the speedy adoption of which so 
many hearts are set, is adopted, and fails of accomplish- 
ment, it will be the first great resolution of benevolence 
25 



290 SELECT REMAINS OF 

that has ever failed. All our resolutions up to this, 
have been accomplished. Shall that which proposes 
the truly Christian object of the world fail 1 It may fail. 
God will not be wanting to us; but we may be wanting 
to ourselves. We may pass the resolution in the spirit 
of pride. We may forget where our strength lies. We 
may go forward in the confidence of our own resources. 
But we shall be in equal danger of doing this, any 
number of years hence. I confidently trust, that He, 
whose Spirit suggested the resolution, will give us 
grace to adopt it, if at all, in the true spirit of depen- 
dance on him. In that case it cannot fail. 

But if it fail, I contend that it is more glorious to 
undertake such an enterprise and fail, than to decline 
undertaking for fear of failing. Perhaps, however, 
Christians of America, are not prepared for this resolu- 
tion. Perhaps, should it be adopted, there would be no 
great accession to your annual income ; and, peradven- 
ture, it would be found at the end of two or three years, 
that Christians of this age have not that love for Christ, 
and that faith in God, and that good will to men, 
which alone can secure the sacrifices, the efforts and 
the treasures necessary to the success of the enterprise. 
But shall it be so 1 Friends of Jesus, shall it be so ] 
Christian philanthropist, shall this fear be realized 1 I 
lay the cause at your feet — the cause of the world — the 
cause of bleeding, dying humanity. I am sure you will 
not trample on it. I hope you will take it up and lift it 
high, and bear it on to victory, speedy, complete, and 
glorious, through the blood of the Lamb, and the grace 
of the Spirit of God. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 



SALVATION GREAT AND DIFFICULT. 

Some think and represent it as easy, exceedingly- 
easy to save a soul — to bend a will — to change a heart. 
Easy 1 It is God's greatest work. Creation is not so 
hard a work. And it is more difficult than destruction. 
It is the most wonderful species of resurrection. With 
men it is impossible; and with God barely possible: for 
the righteous are scarcely saved. Here, ye sons of 
God, is something for you to think about, that God, in 
saving a single soul, putteth forth a mightier energy 
than in making many worlds ; that in order to bring 
you to a saving faith of the Gospel, and to persuade 
you to the love of God, a greater exertion of power is 
requisite, than to produce the most stupendous physical 
creation. If this be not the doctrine of the Bible, why 
did the Apostle speak of the " exceeding greatness of 
his power to usward who believe, according to the 
working of his mighty power'"? We sometimes, and 
indeed more commonly in our discourses, treat of the 
moral attributes of God, displayed in the salvation of 
sinners, of the divine wisdom and goodness, the justice 
and mercy exhibited in the conception and carrying out 
of the wondrous plan of redemption. How benevolent 
the motive ! How wise the scheme ! How beautiful 
and glorious its progressive development ! — until at 
length on Calvary, the Captain of our salvation said, 
" It is finished," — and justice and mercy met and em- 



292 SELECT REMAINS OF 

braced each other, — God was glorified, and men saved, 
and death died by death. But now our theme is the 
power displayed in salvation. And mark, it is not the 
power displayed in the procuring of salvation, but that 
exerted in its application. In the constitution of the per- 
son of the Mediator, and in the progress unto completion 
of his mediatorial work and passion, there are astonish- 
ing exhibitions of his power, as in his incarnation and 
in his resurrection. But let us dismiss these for the pre- 
sent, and direct our attention to the power necessary to 
make the work of the Mediator effectual in the salvation 
of a particular soul — not that branch of salvation which 
regards justification, and is therefore external, but that 
which regards purification, and is therefore internal, 
upon the soul. Christ is not the agent in it. But the 
Holy Ghost is the agent. Our subject is not what 
Christ did and suffered to render faith effectual to sal- 
vation, but what the Holy Ghost does in bringing the 
sinner to believe. Our subject is the exceeding great- 
ness of his power towards us who believe according to 
the working of his mighty power. Perhaps there are 
few, if any, themes more grand, or interesting, or more 
likely to be useful to all who will give it close and con- 
siderate attention. 

The power of God exerted in the salvation of a soul, is 
exerted first, in its conversion, and subsequently in its sanc- 
tification and preparation for glory. The power of God 
does not cease to be exerted, even in its exceeding great- 
ness, after the production of faith, "We are kept," says 
Peter, " by the power of God through faith unto salva- 
tion." That which makes us Christians, is necessary 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 293 

to preserve us as such. The power which places us in 
the right way, is needed to keep us in it, and to speed 
us along it. What good man does not every day feel 
the need of an almighty influence on his soul — a God 
working in him both to will and to do 1 The present 
object is to speak only of the power of God exerted in 
conversion, in producing faith: in illustration of which, 
consider, 

The language made use of in expressing it, such as 

" the exceeding greatness of his power, the working of 

his mighty power — thy people shall be willing in the 

day of thy power." Divine power is necessary to make 

f men willing. 

Consider the other displays of divine power which 
this is said to resemble. These are creation and resur- 
rection. " For we are his workmanship," as truly as 
the heavens and the earth are, though in a different 
sense, — " created in Christ Jesus." " If any man be in 
Christ Jesus, he is a new creature." " And you hath 
he quickened, who were dead id tresspasses and sins ;" 
"and both raised us up together," "according to the 
working of his mighty power, which he wrought in 
Christ, when he raised him from the dead." There are 
various opinions in regard to what a Christian is. Ac- 
cording to some, a baptized person is a Christian, or one 
educated in the belief of certain principles, and who is 
attentive to certain forms. According to others, he is a 
Christian, who is not a Jew, Mahommedan, Pagan, or 
Infidel. But according to the divine Spirit, a Christian 
is not the workmanship of a parent, or a priest, or of 

himself, but of God. " In Christ Jesus neither circum- 

25* 



294 SELECT REMAINS OF 

cision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing, but a new 
creature." "They that received him were born, not of 
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
but of God." 

Consider the nature of the thing to be done — the 
character of the result to be accomplished. It is not 
merely to change one's creed, so as that he shall believe 
in conformity to certain statements. Nor is it a mere 
proselyting of a man from one sect or party to another. 
If that were all, nothing would be necessary but evi- 
dence — such an amount of evidence as should not only 
justify belief, but in opposition to the most inveterate 
prejudices compel it. For such a flood of light may be 
shed around a subject, as shall render the strongest 
reluctance of the will powerless to prevent the belief 
of it. But that which is to be done in the conversion 
of a soul, is not any thing which light can do. Not all 
the light of the universe can convert a soul. It cannot 
warm. It cannot melt. Another influence does that. 
It only illuminates. Light discovers every thing, but 
originates nothing, alters nothing. Light reveals ob- 
jects which ought to be loved, but never generates 
love. Religion is not light, but light and love. And 
the power of religion is in its love. 

The thing to be done in conversion, is the changing 
of the heart, the transferring of the affections from one 
class of objects, on which they have been long and 
firmly fixed, to another, towards which they have 
hitherto felt utter aversion. It is to bring the will of a 
man into subjection to divine authority, and to frame 
all its acts in conformity to the dictates of a pure con- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 295 

science, and the decisions of divine revelation. To 
accomplish this, to cause a man to love things which 
he now hates, and to hate things which he now loves ; 
to take a deep interest in things, towards which he now 
feels a perfect- indifference or a deeply seated hostility, 
to make a proud man humble, an irascible man meek, 
a profane man devout, all must see to be the work of 
mighty power. To change one habit of life, how hard 
you find it. What strength of determination it requires. 
What violence and perseverance of effort, yea, what 
strong self-conflicts. And after all, perhaps, it is a 
failure ; or the success is but temporary, and there is a 
speedy return to the forsaken practice. What then 
must it require to change at once all the habits of the 
heart 1 If to act differently in one respect be so hard, 
what must it be, to be different in every respect. If 
when a man has an inclination to be different from 
what he is, it is so difficult sometimes to effect the de- 
sired alteration, what must be the difficulty when the 
will is opposed to the change, which the conscience 
pronounces necessary? If when one would do good, he 
still often does evil, what is to be expected when even 
his inclination is not to good 1 When it is necessary to 
the happiness and salvation of a man, that he should 
be and do unlike what his whole heart disposes him to 
be and do, to bring about such a change must be a 
work to which the greatest exertion of power is essen- 
tial. Will any thing short of the exceeding greatness 
of God's power, ever bring the proud person down to 
the spiritual condition of the publican, — to that sense of 
unworthiness and that spirit of self-condemnation, that 



296 SELECT REMAINS OF 

he shall smite upon his troubled breast and be ashamed 
to lift his weeping eyes to heaven, and in the confession 
of his sins, cast himself on the mere mercy of God 1 

The exceeding greatness of the power required for 
the conversion of the soul, may be inferred from the 
frequent inefficacy of the means employed, and the ex- 
ertions made to accomplish this result. How much has 
been done both by God and man for the salvation of 
some souls that are now irrecoverably lost and gone 
for ever. Three years did Judas Iscariot live in the 
family of Jesus Christ, daily hearing his divine instruc- 
tions, and beholding his astonishing miracles and bright 
example. But under the best influences he waxed 
worse and worse, until at length he was prepared for 
the blackest crime which stands charged to human 
nature. Under what benign influences have many of 
the present generation been brought up, and along, 
hitherto! Since the commencement of their probation- 
ary career, how many means have been used with 
them, how many expedients tried, how many prayers 
offered for them, how many lessons of divine truth 
taught them, how many good examples set before 
them, how often they have been exhorted, and warned, 
reasoned with, appealed to and entreated, the provi- 
dence of God seconding and enforcing his word, and 
even his Spirit striving with them, and yet, what pro- 
gress in goodness and fitness to meet God have they 
made ] How many have made none at all ! How many 
have even taken a retrograde course ! In spite of all 
the forces that have been attracting them towards God, 
they have been regularly receding from him. Under 






WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 297 

all these means, their hearts have been made harder 
than ever. And yet the means used have been as well 
adapted to the end proposed as means could be. The 
excellence and obligation of the end, the fitness of the 
means to produce it, and the advantage of obtaining it, 
are perhaps all acknowledged. The judgment is con- 
vinced; and that gained, all ought to be gained; yet 
how little is gained, when only that is gained. Be* 
tween being convinced that a course is right, obligatory, 
practicable, and advantageous, and being persuaded to 
pursue that course, there is a wide interval, which often 
remains for ever untraversed. The man has got the 
truth, but he holds it in unrighteousness. The way of 
his judgment is not the way of his heart. Once he 
sinned without the light, now he sins with it and 
against it. Festus was not convinced. Agrippa was 
convinced but not persuaded. Both, if they died as 
they lived, perished, with this difference only, that they 
perished under different circumstances. A man is often 
convinced not only that it is his duty, but that it is 
equally his interest to pursue the course marked out by 
inspiration ; and he will confess too, that it is the course 
which gratitude dictates, and the most dignified and 
honorable, as well as peaceful and happy course, as 
worthy of being pursued for its progress, as for its ter- 
mination, its way pleasantness, as well as its end glory; 
and yet he will not pursue it, though there are as many 
considerations dissuading him from the course he is 
pursuing, as unite in persuading him to the other. 
There are some subjects on which it is only necessary to 
enlighten the minds and convince the judgments of 



298 SELECT REMAINS OF 

men. But the subject which comprehends our relations 
to God is not one of these ; and hence, one of the most 
irrefragable arguments, not merely for the fact, but 
for the depth and desperateness of human depravity. 
Let him who has attempted the reformation of young 
men who have fallen into a course of vice and dissipa- 
tion bear testimony on this subject. He enters upon no 
kind of work with such despondency ; for reformation 
among such is exceedingly rare. And still more rarely 
are such converted to God. Let it be heard and re- 
membered, that very few immoral young men are ever 
converted to God ! In proceeding with such, with what 
facility they are brought to acknowledge the criminality 
and fatality of the course they have been pursuing ; 
and to agree entirely, with pious men, in judgment on 
the character and tendency of their conduct. Ask 
such, do you not see that if you persist in the course 
you are now pursuing, inevitably in a little while, per- 
haps within a year, you will be ruined in soul and body 
for ever 1 And the prompt and apparently honest reply, 
will often be, yes. And yet the person goes on as reck- 
lessly and rapidly as ever, and is ruined perhaps within 
the year. So that from experience, we are led to be- 
lieve that when you have gained all that is rational and 
intellectual in a man to the side of rigid virtue, you 
have done next to nothing towards his reformation. 
You have now to carry the will and the heart, having 
already carried the judgment. But how are you to 
carry them, when it is only through the judgment you 
can act upon them, and in the case supposed, the dic- 
tates of the judgment are entirely disregarded. How 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 299 

are you to prevail on any one to do a thing-, when such 
considerations as, that he ought to do it, and would be 
benefitted by doing it, do not move him in the least. 
All hope of a sinner's repentance derived from himself 
is vain ; not because repentance is any thing miraculous 
or transcending the natural faculties of men, when 
properly inclined, but because the most weighty mo- 
tives, in the greatest numbers and the most persuasively 
urged, are found ineffectual. And if we cannot prevail 
by motives, we cannot prevail at all. God must come 
in and sanctify the soul. That is now the only hope. 

In confirmation of the doctrine that conversion is the 
great work, the grand achievement of God, it may be 
observed, that men, in their undertakings, find nothing 
so difficult as that which is analogous to the conversion 
of a soul — to reclaim a fellow being from error or vice. 
There is scarcely any thing physical, which men in 
their combined might cannot effect ; and there is 
scarcely any thing moral that they can effect. They 
conceive and execute works of surprising magnificence, 
astonishing one another by the power and skill which 
they display, but when they come to making men 
better, their want of success is astonishing. They can 
reclaim every thing but the human heart. They can 
reclaim every waste but the human soul. And now 
mankind have pretty much abandoned the idea of re- 
forming the race, and their chief labors are directed to 
anticipate and prevent evil. They have found that to 
reform is almost hopeless, and that to preserve is pretty 
much all they can do. There was never any thing 
effectually done to arrest the progress of intemperance, 



300 SELECT REMAINS OF 

until the preventive plan was fallen upon. Whatever 
tears parents have to shed, whatever prayers they have 
to offer, whatever expostulations they have to address, 
let them do it when their children are comparatively 
uncorrupted, else it will be too late. How many young 
men in every city have been ruined by dissipation and 
profligacy, and how few in the same time have been 
reclaimed from their vices ! And yet how slow are 
many to favor plans intended to prevent crime and 
forestall vice. 

But why is any greater exertion of power necessary 
in conversion, than in moving a mountain or making a 
world 1 Among the reasons, perhaps this may be one 
and a principle one, that in the one case there is oppo- 
sition and resistance, in the other none. In nature 
there is nothing to rise up against God — in man there is 
much that does this. There is no spirit of rebellion in 
any thing upon which God exerts his power, but the 
will of moral agents. He commands nature and he is 
obeyed. He commands men and is disobeyed. He 
said, " Let there be light, and there was light." But 
of men he says, "I have called, and ye refused; I have 
stretched out my hand, and no man regarded — they 
would none of my counsel — they despised all my re- 
proof." Here is the peculiarity of the sinner's case, 
that he can and does resist God. Therefore in addition 
to the power necessary to form his soul aright, there 
must be power exerted to overcome resistance — a resist- 
ance which will suffer the flames of eternal torment 
rather than yield. Where is the man in this Christian 
land, who has not contended against God, and resisted 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 301 

the Holy Ghost 1 Perhaps there cannot be found in 
any of our worshipping assemblies, one unconverted 
man, but for his positive resistance to the benevolent 
strivings of God's Spirit. If so, how will the revelation 
of this fact clear the divine character from any injurious 
imputation cast upon it by " all their hard speeches 
which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." This 
doctrine teaches us, 

1. How different a thing faith must be from what 
some esteem it to be ; since it is the product of the ex- 
ceeding greatness of God's power, the result of such an 
energy as that by which Christ was raised from the 
dead. You say you believe, but have you ever expe- 
rienced this power of God upon your soul ] 

2. How evidently does salvation depend on God, 
Nothing can effect it but his power, his mighty power, 
It is possible only with God. In vain you work, 
unless he work in you to will and to do. But remem- 
ber why and for what such an exertion of divine power 
is necessary. It is necessary because of the strength 
of your reluctance, invincible by any power not omnipo- 
tent. It is necessary to make you willing. 

3. If with all the working of this mighty power, the 
righteous are scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly 
and the sinner appear 1 

4. How devotedly should Christians thank God for 
the exertion of this power on them, and how fervently 
implore that it may be exerted for others. Why should 
not we cry unceasingly in this behalf? 

5. How unlike others in spirit and conduct should 
they be on whom the exceeding greatness of God's 

26 



302 SELECT REMAINS OF 

power has been exerted ; who have been transformed 
by the renewing of their minds, who have been created 
anew in Christ Jesus ! 

6. How vain the purpose and expectation of sinners 
to repent and turn to God by and by. You will as soon 
make a world, as mould your souls anew, or change your 
hearts. How are you going to love that in which you 
see no beauty, though the splendor of the brightest and 
broadest day be shed around it ! How are you going 
to change your inclinations, when it is absurd to speak 
of your having a disposition to change them! How 
are you going to move your will, when all the motives 
which can be assembled together, make no impression 
on it, and when a change in your connexions effects no 
change whatever in your relations ! 

Suppose you were on your death bed, and one should 
say to you, now make a world and you shall be saved, 
or raise a dead man and you shall be saved, would 
you do it to save you — would it not be mocking you ! 
But there is no more hope if left to yourself, you 
will repent and believe when death stares you in the 
face, than there is that you will perform a resurrection ; 
for we believe " according to the working of his mighty 
power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him 
from the dead." 

7. How deeply and dreadfully depraved the human 
heart must be, that such a power should be necessary 
to bring it to repentance, to faith in Christ, and to the 
exercise of love to God. What manner of persons must 
we be, that we must be created anew unto good works, 
before we shall perform any ! 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 303 

8. In view of this subject, how criminal and fatal 
appears the act of grieving- the Holy Spirit of God. It 
is often done. It is the worst a man can do. Don't 
you do it. God forbid you should do it. If you are 
doing it, cease from it. If you have done it, and he is 
grieved away for ever, nothing need be said. All is 
lost. But peradventure he may return. Then call 
upon him; for as there is no other name whereby you 
may be saved, but the name of Jesus, so there is no 
other influence but the Spirit's, which will ever bring 
you to Jesus. 



FIXED PURPOSES. 

I remember reading of a young man, who, in the 
course of a few years, squandered a large estate. Re- 
duced to absolute want, he one day wandered out with 
the design of putting an end to his life. He came to 
the brow of an eminence which overlooked the estates 
he had lost. He sat himself down, dropped his head, 
and remained for some time in fixed deep thought, then 
suddenly sprung up, and with a vehement exulting 
emotion, while a gleam of hope irradiated his dark eye s 
exclaimed, "They shall be mine again." He had made 
his resolution and formed his plan. He now hastened 
to execute it. The result in due time was complete 
success, with an addition of other property. 



304 SELECT REMAINS OF 

There was another, who, after long darkness and 
distress of mind, at length exclaimed, " If there be a 
God in the universe, I will seek him, and find him, and 
devote myself to him." That man, (as his life proved,) 
is now in heaven. 

Our salvation does not depend so much on our laying 
hold, as on our holding on. It is not he that sets out, 
and for a while runs well, but he that endureth to the 
end that shall be saved. We might as well not lay hold, 
as not hold fast. Indeed it is better not to vow, than to 
vow and not to pay. 



LABORS OF LOVE. 

There is no labor so certainly effectual and so largely 
productive, as that which is expended in the work of 
the Lord. 

The love of Christ should constrain you to live unto 
him, and not merely to speak well of him. 

The viciousness of the wretched, so far from exempt- 
ing us from obligation to supply their urgent necessities, 
is an additional reason why we should endeavor to do 
them good, win their confidence, and save their souls. 

Let him that hath ingenuity, plan, and him that hath 
strength, labor, and him that hath money, give, and 
him that hath none of these, as well as him that hath 
all of them, bow the knee, and with the faith of Abra- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 305 

ham and the fervor of Elijah, pray that the kingdoms 
of this world may become the kingdom of our Lord 
and of his Christ. 

To believe our neighbor immortal, and yet in our love 
to regard and treat him only as a mortal — to know he 
has a soul, and yet to feel no concern and take no care 
of his soul — to feed him with the bread that perisheth, 
and yet never offer his famishing spirit a morsel of the 
bread of heaven — to find him fainting with thirst, and 
yet give him none of the waters of life — to help him 
along through this brief world, and yet never seek to 
throw one kindly influence upon his immortal course, 
cannot be to love our neighbor as God intended we 
should. 

There is nothing more inconsistant with Christianity 
than indolence. 

Much of the ability to do good, lies in the disposition 
to do it. The very breathing of a benevolent heart is a 
species of good-doing. 



WATCHFULNESS. 

The authority of God commanding, the mercies of 
God beseeching, and the terrors of God threatening, the 
love of Immanuel, the greatness of the work to be done, 
the soul's urgent necessity, life the only time, death at 
hand, the coming of the Son of man at the unknown 



306 



SELECT REMAINS OF 



hour, the unalterable decisions of the judgment, and 
eternity, ail cry, watch ! 

We are exhorted to hold fast our profession. Does 
not this require vigilance ? Who ever held any thing 
with a firm grasp when he was asleep 1 



CONFESSION. 



How many confessions of sin are a mere soliloquy, 
never in spirit and truth, addressed to God. 

Suppose a Jewish priest had seen the publican going 
up to the temple, and asked him what he was going for, 
and when he had answered, " to confess my sin to God, 
and ask for mercy," had said, " you need not go so far. 
I'll hear you — confess to me — I can forgive you ;" would 
he have gone down justified upon a compliance with so 
impious a request? Yet this is what the Catholic priests 
do habitually. They stop the people from going to 
God with their confessions. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 307 



THE YOKE OF CHRIST. 

The yoke is the symbol of subjection and obedience. 
To take the yoke of Christ, is to become voluntarily 
subject to him. It comprehends the subjection of the 
understanding to his teachings, of the conscience to his 
authority, of the will to his pleasure, of the heart to his 
love, of the active powers to his service, and of the sub- 
stance to his use and advantage. It is the subjection 
of a child to a parent, of a servant to his master, of a 
client to his patron, of a scholar to his teacher. This 
subjection is not external merely, but primarily internal. 
And it is supreme. Some kinds of subjection are in- 
compatible with it. All are subordinate to it. This 
supreme subjection to Christ, includes allegiance to him 
as a king, reliance on him as a senior, application to 
him as a teacher, confidence in him as a guide, imita- 
tion of him as an exemption, and inviolable attachment 
to him as the greatest and best of friends. This is what 
he demands, when he says, " Take my yoke upon you 
for it is easy." 

The world know not the nature of the Christian life. 
They see at best, but one half of it. The better and 
more blessed part is concealed from them. They may 
know our trials, but not our supports ; our temptations, 
but not our succors; our difficulties, but not our helps; 
our sorrows, but not our joys; our trouble, but not our 
tranquility; our loss, but not our unspeakable gain, 
The former, they are at least in part acquainted with, 



308 SELECT REMAINS OF 

for they have felt the same ; but with the latter, the 
stranger intermeddleth not. They see the yoke of 
Christ in all its nakedness, and they think it must be 
hard, but they know not what expedients Christ has to 
make it easy. Oh, if they would but try this yoke, 
they should soon find how sweet is submission to the 
will of Christ. 

Every man must wear some yoke. We must be in 
subjection to some being or thing. The alternative 
before us is not independence or subjection. We have 
only the choice of masters. Wisdom consists not in 
rejecting all, but in choosing the best. 

The Scriptures exhort the saints to hold fast their 
profession. Does not this show the necessity for all to 
take it up 1 If God's soul hath no pleasure in them 
that draw back, has it pleasure in them that never come 
forward 1 If there remaineth to the apostate no more 
sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of 
judgment and fierj 7 " indignation, which shall consume 
him, what remaineth to them that have never fallen 
away from Christ, only because they have never gone 
to him 1 



PROFESSION OF RELIGION. 

There must be professed as well as real subjection to 
the Gospel. It is " with the heart that man believeth 
unto righteousness •" it is " with the mouth that con- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 309 

fession is made unto salvation." Some persons act 
precisely as if the latter part of this declaration were an 
interpolation. But it is not. To be disciples of Jesua 
Christ, and to declare ourselves his disciples, the two 
constitute our duty. Neither part may be dispensed 
with. Words and actions are intended to confirm each 
other. It is true that actions speak louder than words, 
but the harmony of both is an utteranee louder still. 
Let those who hesitate respecting the obligation of a 
public profession of religion, read what Christ, in the 
Gospel, says respecting those who "confess" and 
"deny" him "before men." Did he mean nothing by 
such language 1 ? Nothing? But, say some, "if we 
obey Christ's commands, will not our actions declare 
unequivocally what we are 1 If our subjection to the 
Gospel be real, will it not of necessity be sufficiently 
manifest V? But how is a person to obey all the com- 
mands of Christ, without a distinct and open confession 
of him, when one class of these commands requires such 
confession ? To obey in part only, is not having " re- 
spect unto all his commandments." 

A profession of Christianity is never complete, unless 
it be made both by works and by words. Without the 
former, it is the merest pretence — without the latter, it 
is materially defective, perhaps essentially so. I advise 
no man to try eternity without both a real and professed 
subjection to Jesus Christ. When you appear before 
him as your judge, you will not like to have it in remem- 
brance that you had not been known on earth as his 
disciple, never numbered among his friends ; that you 
never, by any voluntary and public act, connected your- 



310 SELECT REMAINS OF 

self with his church ; never entered into communion 
with his disciples ; that you never met with them to 
pray and to sing a hymn to Christ as God, as Pliny 
says the primitive Christians did ; that you separated 
the sacraments, which God hath joined together, and 
were satisfied with a covenant sealed with only one 
seal, and that affixed by your parents in your uncon- 
scious infancy. 

It is true that some do not profess religion, because 
they have it not to profess. This is melancholy. Bat, 
to have religion and conceal it — to attempt to get to 
heaven by stealth, and defraud Christ of the public 
honors of our allegiance and salvation here, is mean — 
is perilous. 



REPARATION. 

So far are religious services from rendering reparation 
unnecessary, that they may not be performed until it is 
made. The gift is to be left before the altar until it is 
made, and then offered. It is a fatal mistake to sup- 
pose that what you do towards God will make amends 
for what you have undone towards men. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 311 



UNION. 



It is a silly conceit of some, that unity of sentiment 
among men is not on the whole desirable. How do 
such reason 1 Is not truth one 1 — and is it not desira- 
ble all should believe the truth 1 Agreement in the 
truth is that thing which of all others is most to be 
desired. To the want of this, is to be attributed almost 
all the discord, wrath, and wrangling found among 
men. Diversity of faith necessarily proves the existence 
of error , and error never existed anywhere without 
doing mischief. The world had been evangelized long 
ago, but for the difference of sentiment. One of our 
sweetest anticipations is that we are going where all 
are of one mind and of one heart. 



GOOD MORALS. 

He who does not honestly intend and heartily try to 
pay his just pecuniary dues, is as deep in arrears to God 
as to his human creditor. And he, who overreaches his 
neighbor in trade, is guilty of an attempt to defraud 
God. And the man who, taking the advantage of 
the superior strength which nature gives him, and of 
the authority that law concedes to him, maltreats in 



312 SELECT REMAINS OF 

any manner her, whom he has vowed to love, and 
cherish, and honor, does not more injure his wife than 
he does insult his God. Generally, whatsoever evil we 
do to men, we do to God. In this view, dishonesty is 
sacrilege, and all immorality is impiety too. 



ENTIRE DEVOTEDNESS TO GOD. 

The disciples of Christ ought to be a distinct, pecu- 
liar, holy, and superior people. 

First, they ought to do more than others, because 
they have received more than others — more ought to be 
done by them, because more has been done for them. 
Higher privileges, and better benefits, have been con- 
ferred on them than on others. God has made a dis- 
tinction in their favor. He has introduced them into a 
nearer relation to himself. He has chosen them out of 
the world, and called them to holiness. There is no 
man that may not, and should not, gratefully say — 
" What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits 
toward me V Nevertheless, none can say it with that 
emphasis with which they can, for whom God has 
crowned all his other benefits with renewing grace and 
pardoning mercy. Twice has the hand of God been at 
work on them ; once in creating them, and again in 
new-creating them. Are they, as creatures, the work- 
manship of God, or are they as Christians'? " For," says 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 813 

the Apostle, "we are his workmanship, created in 
Christ Jesus unto good works." And the second crea- 
tion is more glorious than the first, and a greater favor 
to its subject. And not only have their natures been 
renovated, but their sins, in all their multitude and 
magnitude, have been freely forgiven. Justified they 
are, as well as undergoing the process of sanctification. 
And then they are permanently the subjects of divine 
nfluence. They are inhabited, taught, led, and aided 
continually by the Spirit of God. Now, it is a principle 
of both heaven and earth, that creatures shall render 
according to that which they receive, and that, conse- 
quently, much shall be required of them to whom much 
is given. And it is due on two accounts — due on the 
.score of gratitude, and due on the ground of the greater 
ability to make returns. On this principle, then, what 
is due from those who are distinguished from others in 
the particulars that have been mentioned 1 Must they 
not render more than others do*? Will not more be 
required of them 1 Their obligations may not originally 
have been greater than those of others, but, on the score 
of gratitude, they are. And greater far are their derived 
abilities and opportunities. 

Secondly — Christians ought to do more than others, 
because they profess and promise more than others. I 
say, not that they profess and promise more than others 
ought to profess and promise, but more than they ac- 
tually do. Now, when a man publicly acknowledges 
his obligations, whether by word or act, and promises, 
with the help of God, to perform them, his case is seen 
to be somewhat different from his who makes no such 
27 



314 SELECT REMAINS OF 

acknowledgment and promises. " It is better not to 
vow, than to vow and not to pay." Every head of a 
family in Israel ought to have said with Joshua, " as 
for me and my house, we will s*erve the Lord." Some 
did express the determination, and some did not. Now, 
supposing they had all been equally delinquent, the 
former would have violated an additional obligation, 
inasmuch as they had bound themselves, by promise, 
to that to which God had bound them by command. 
More is reasonably expected, both by God and men, of 
those who profess to be the disciples of Jesus Christ, 
and promise to be obedient to him, than from those who 
do not, though the former profess and promise only 
what is their duty. They ought to do more than others. 
They have declared themselves on God's side — they 
have recognized their obligations to serve him — they 
have consented to the claims of Christ, and have taken 
the sacramental oath to be obedient to him. 

Thirdly — They ought to do more than others, because, 
for the reason just given, what is done by them is of 
more consequence than what is done by others. Their 
good is more extensively beneficial, and their evil more 
widely injurious. Very few things enlarge a man's 
influence, and increase his power of doing good and evil 
more, than the fact of his making a profession of reli- 
gion. Therefore, consider well ere you make a profes- 
sion of religion, and consider well, too, before you 
decline making it. Consider well before you increase 
your power of doing mischief, and consider equally well, 
before you refuse to increase your power of doing good. 
It follows : — 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 315 

Fourthly — Christians ought to do more than others, 
because their conduct is more narrowly watched, and 
more strictly scrutinized, than is that of others. Other 
men may do amiss, and little notice shall be taken of 
it, and for this reason, as well as others, their sin may 
do little injury ; but every thing professors of religion 
do is observed and criticised. "You are a city set on a 
hill, which cannot be hid." 

Fifthly — Christians ought to do more than others be- 
cause they expect more. You look for a city, which hath 
foundations, whose builder and maker is God. You 
hope, that when this earthly house is dissolved, you 
shall have a building of God ; a house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens. You expect that when 
Christ shall appear, you also shall appear with him in 
glory. Now, there is a conduct conformable to such 
expectation. "Every man that hath this hope in him 
purifieth himself." 

Sixthly — Christians ought to be distinguished here as 
they are to be distinguished hereafter and forever. The 
sheep ought not to look as much as possible like goats. 
It is not seemly that the heir apparent to the crown and 
kingdom should act like the sons of the mean and vile. 

Finally — If Christians shall not do more than others, 
then some of the things most important to be done for the 
glory of God, and for the good of mankind, will be left 
undone. Who is to care for the cause of Christ, and for 
the souls of men, if you do not *? Who is to enlighten 
this dark world, if you be not lights tp it 1 Who can 
be expected to pray, and give, and labor for the evan- 
gelization of this dark world, if you do not 1 When 



316 SELECT REMAINS OP 

iniquity comes in as a flood, and the Spirit of the Lord 
lifteth up a standard against it, if ye forsake it who can 
be expected to flock to it 1 Where shall Jesus Christ 
look for friends and advocates if not among you who 
have plighted your friendship at his table 1 If he be 
wounded in the house of his friends, can he expect bet- 
ter treatment from his enemies 1 Wherewith shall the 
earth be preserved, if that which was intended to be as 
salt to it have lost its savor 1 How shall religion flour- 
ish in any congregation, if they who profess to be its 
subjects take no interest in its prosperity 1 ? 

Ye disciples of Jesus Christ, who have commemorated 
his death ! Ye have taken a step which ye cannot 
retrace. Ye have made a profession which ye cannot 
recall. Your name is indelibly written in the imperish- 
able book of God. Are you paying it 1 Are you doing 
the thing that is acceptable to God 1 Are you living to 
him who died for you 1 Are you glorifying God in 
your bodies and spirits, which are his 1 Have you pre- 
sented yourselves a living sacrifice to God 1 Is his will 
your rule, his love your motive, his glory your end 1 I 
ask you these questions, because they are such as will 
be asked you in your examination at that tribunal from 
which there lies no appeal. Oh ! mince not the matter 
of Christianity. That religion is worth nothing which 
beginneth in a resolution that is never executed, and 
endeth in a profession that is never made good. I 
know not which is more fearful, to see men totally ne- 
glect the work of eternity, or to see them take it up and 
leave it half done. I know not which is more danger- 
ous, to be a careless sinner, or a cold professor. I know 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 317 

that either will prove fatal. The church and the com- 
munion table are no refuge. There is none but the 
blood of Jesus. 

Christians have been, in common with all men, the 
subjects of one creation of God, and in distinction from 
others, the subjects of another, the second, the greater 
creation. Has God then a second time, put his creating 
hand to you, ye Christians] Then, where are the traces 
of his handy work ? — where is that which he has 
wrought 1 What proof can you show that God has 
been at work upon you ] His hand ought to be as dis- 
cernible in his moral creations, as it is in his physical 
creations. We have not to write upon the page of 
heaven, " this is God's work." Ah, no, the silent 
heavens declare the glory of the Lord, and the firma- 
ment showeth his handy work. The work itself pro- 
claims the workman. And can it be that his moral 
formations do not declare their author ] While those are 
"for ever singing as they shine, the hand that made us is 
divine," are these silent in regard to him that originated 
them 1 It is as much the result of God's creating 
energy that you are a Christian, as that you are a man. 
Now, shall it appear on the very face of the work, and 
in all its structure, so that no one can doubt it, that as 
a man, you are the production of God, and not appear 
that as a Christian you are 1 Is the first creation so 
manifestly God's, while in regard to the second, it is 
doubtful whether it be God's or man's 1 Who can 
doubt that the human eye is the contrivance and con- 
struction of God 1 And shall holy love not proclaim its 
author] Shall the work created not in his image, 
27* 



318 



SELECT REMAINS OF 



prove him its author, and the work made in his image 
not proclaim and own him 1 



PRAYER. 



Prayer moves the hand that holds the heart. 

It is not absolutely necessary that we should pray 
over a book of mathematics, or a volume of history to 
understand it. Yet if the reader had the opportunity 
of daily and hourly access to the author, would he not 
frequently avail himself of it and go to him for expla- 
nation 1 The Bible is the book of God, and it treats of 
subjects on which our feelings are strongest, our preju- 
dices most violent, and our ignorance most profound. 
We have daily and hourly opportunity of consulting the 
divine author. Are we not manifestly without excuse, 
if not availing ourselves of this privilege, we fall into 
mistakes and adopt false interpretations'? 

The lever that is destined to move the world is the 
Gospel ; but prayer is the only way in which God's 
people can apply any power to that lever ; and we 
believe that when the universal Church shall make a 
combined effort in this way, the world will be moved 
and the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of 
the Lord. By prayer we bring down the might of 
heaven to do what the strength of the human arm 
cannot do ; by this we make omnipotence our ally. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 319 

The prayers of God's people constitute one link in 
the chain of salvation, connected on one side with the 
power of God, and on the other with the conversion of 
men. Break not that golden chain. 

Oh, if men did but pray for each other as they ought, 
what a blest fraternity the human family would be. It 
is intercession made in heaven, founded on the atone- 
ment offered on earth, that preserves this revolted world 
from merited destruction, that procures forbearance for 
the wicked, and sustains the principle of divine life in 
the soul of the righteous. I feel safe in saying that 
the intercessory prayers of Christians avert more evil 
and procure more good, than all other human means 
together. 

It is always a great encouragement in prayer, when 
we can plead with God for our mercies, when we can 
remind him that the thing we ask him to do for us is 
only what he has done before. With what confidence 
may a church which God has often, or even once re- 
vived, plead with him, "Wilt thou not revive us 
again **' 

The want of success in the prayer of the foolish vir- 
gins, proves that prayer may be rightly directed to the 
Lord — may be short — may be unostentatious — may be 
sincere — may be fervent — may be for that which is 
good and necessary — may be importunate, and yet fail 
of its object. Not every prayer is heard, though it have 
many qualities of a good prayer. One defect, if it relate 
to that which is essential, will spoil it. In the prayer 
of those virgins, there was no faith and no love, and it 
was ill-timed. The time was, when, if they had asked 



320 SELECT REMAINS OP 

and knocked, they would have received and gained 
entrance agreeably to the promise, but time lasts not 
always. Behold the contrast between the prayer of 
these foolish virgins and holy Stephen. Acts vii, 29. 

He is a dead man, who does not pray. 

The Scriptures plainly teach the duty of specification 
in prayer, and especially in private prayer. Think not 
that your prayers will be of much, if any avail, so long 
as they do not partake of this property. He who asks for 
a great many things at a time, cannot be very desirous 
of getting any one of them. It is in prayer, as in some 
other things, the way to accomplish much, is to do one 
thing at a time. Take a single case and lay that be- 
fore God. The woman of Canaan came to Christ on a 
single errand, and urged one only suit. When Peter 
was in prison, and the Church desired his release, they 
prayed, not for all good things, but " for him." He, 
who in his secret devotions, prays only for his friends 
or his enemies in general, is not sufficiently interested 
for any one of them. 

It is thought by some, that Christians do not need to 
be prayed for. But they need it as much as any others, 
and we are more frequently reminded of the duty of 
praying for them than for any other class of persons. 
Our consistency as Christians, and our progress in reli- 
gion, depend very much on our prayers for one another. 
Perhaps the low state of religion among professing 
Christians is more owing to a neglect of this duty than 
any thing else. 

When Paul prayed for the Ephesians, it is remarka- 
ble that he prayed for but one thing, and that one in 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 321 

Order to others. Gal. i, 17. The truth is, we do not 
want but one thing. Thy want, O man, is of the 
soul, and thy soul has but One want — " One thing is 
needful." Would to God thy soul had but one desire, 
so as to say with David — " One thing have I desired 
of the Lord ; that will I seek after." 



SECRET PRAYER. 

Men never take so firm a hold on God as in secret* 
Remember Jacob. 

Thou shouldest pray alone, for thou hast sinned alone ; 
and thou art to die alone, and to be judged alone. Alone 
thou wilt have to appear before the judgment-seat. 
Why not go alone to the mercy-seat 1 In the great 
transaction between thee and God, thou canst have no 
human helper. You can be free before God> You are 
not going to tell him any secret. You may be sure he 
will not betray your confidence. Whatever reasons 
there may be for any species of devotion, there are more 
and stronger reasons for secret devotion. 

Nothing is more, embarrassing and disturbing in secret 
prayer than unpropitious circumstances. Great atten- 
tion ought always to be paid to this point — " Enter into 
thy closet," says Christ. He says not a closet, nor the 
closet, but thy closet. The habit of secret communing 
is supposed to be formed. The man is supposed to 



<S%Z SELECT REMAINS OP 

have a closet — some place to which he is accustomed 
to retire for prayer — some spot consecrated by many a 
meeting there with God — some place that has often 
been to him a Bethel. The Saviour uses the word to 
mean any place, where, with no embarrassment either 
from the fear or pride of observation, we can freely pour 
out our heart in prayer to God. No matter what are 
the dimensions of the place, what its flooring or canopy. 
Christ's closet was a mountain, Isaac's a field, Peter's a 
housetop. 

Go not into thy closet to say prayers. Oh ! I wish 
obsolete could be written against that phrase, saying 
prayers. It were as proper to speak of saying praises. 

If, when in thy closet, thou feel nothing, say — " Oh 
God, I feel nothing ; no gratitude, no contrition, no de- 
sire." God likes truth. 

It is in the closet, and not in the crowd, that men 
become acquainted with God ; and what so important 
as acquaintance with God ] Oh ! how it lightens the 
pressure of calamity, relieves the loneliness of death, 
and breaks the shock of the entrance to eternity. 

To become remiss in secret devotion is to become 
tired of God. 

What an argument we have for secret prayer in the 
example of Christ, who seems to have been in the habit 
of retiring to very solitary places, for the purpose of per- 
sonal communion with God, and especially for prayer. 
Yes ! He, who knew no sin, who needed no forgiveness, 
and whose mind was not liable to be diverted and dis- 
tracted, as ours is, maintained secret prayer. Though 
the habit of his soul was devotion, and every breath 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 323 

bore prayer upon it, and, wherever he was, he held per- 
fect and uninterrupted communion with the Father, yet 
He was wont to seclude himself to pray. With all these 
advantages over us, He felt the necessity of it ; and, 
with the business of the world's redemption to attend to, 
He found time for it. This example speaks volumes to 
us all. Was it necessary for Him and not for thee, poor, 
guilty, exposed sinner, that hast a God to propitiate, a 
soul to save, a heaven to obtain 1 Was it practicable 
for Him, and canst thou, durst thou, say it is not for 
thee 1 Ganst thou not find a secrecy, or make a soli- 
tude 1 And if the day is not thy own, is not the night 1 
That was the Saviour's time of prayer, and the cold 
mountain top was his oratory. 

The Scriptures do clearly teach, that secret prayer 
ought to be not only daily — " give us this day our daily 
bread ;" but often through the day. Daniel and David 
prayed three times a day at least. " To pray frequent- 
ly is to pray fervently." 



FAMILY PRAYER. 

Can any one doubt whether God is more pleased with 
the practice than with the omission of family prayer 1 
Does any one doubt whether the practice or the-omis- 
sion will be the more pleasing subject of retrospect from 
the dying bed, in the eternal world 1 By and by will 



324 SELECT REMAINS OF 

come the long deferred and greatly dreaded season, of 
taking the last look and the last leave of those whom 
your decease is to make orphans. Oh then, if this 
sweet thought may enter into your meditation, that 
you have been in the daily habit of commending them 
to the care and grace of their heavenly Father, and 
that you may now indulge the confident hope that He 
will infinitely more than supply the paternal place 
which you leave vacant, you may leave the world 
rejoicing. Otherwise, there will be a great darkness 
resting on your hopes, if not respecting yourself, yet 
certainly respecting your darling children. 

Do you ask for an express precept enjoining family 
worship'? Suppose it cannot be given. Yet listen to 
the language of prophetic indignation — " Pour out thy 
fury upon the families that call not upon thy name." 
Hear one in high favor with God, saying, " as for me 
and my house, we will serve the Lord." Even Pagan- 
ism, in all its sottishness, has never been so stupid as 
to deny the obligation of family religion. And the 
blessed Saviour, when on earth, left us an example 
that we should follow his steps ; — he prayed with his 
family. 



PRAYER MEETINGS. 

The want of concert in prayer, brings it to pass that 
we have no such influence accompanying the word 
preached as that which gave pungency and power to 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 325 

the sermon of Peter on the day of Pentecost. For ten 
days previous to that memorable morning, aye, and on 
that very morning - up to the hour of the descent of the 
Spirit, the whole company of the disciples were all, 
with one accord, in one place, engaged in prayer and 
supplication. They were together, and agreed as 
touching the thing they should ask. I suppose every 
one made an exertion to be present. I suppose there 
was not one disciple unnecessarily absent from those 
meetings ; nor from that meeting which was called to 
pray for Peter's release : " Prayer was made of the 
church for him." Suppose one half or three fourths of 
the church had staid at home, or gone to some place 
of worldly resort on that evening, (for, shocking to 
relate ! there were evening meetings, even at that early 
period,) think you Peter would have been released, in 
answer to their prayers 1 Yet full that proportion of 
the members of our churches absent themselves from 
our meetings for prayer. Yes ! at least one half or 
three fourths of our churches dissent, when the proposal 
is to pray for the revival of religion. There is no 
agreement as touching it, and hence it cannot be rea- 
sonably expected. There is not even a plurality in 
favor of it — no ! not half the church in favor of a revi- 
val ! — the vote is carried to have none ! 

I would not make any sweeping assertions, but I do 
not see how any one, who has grace even as a grain of 
mustard-seed, can habitually and voluntarily be absent 
from the assemblies for social prayer. 

Some never unite in any form of social prayer but on 

the Sabbath. To suit their hebdomadal devotions, that 
28 



326 SELECT REMAINS OP 

petition should have run, " Give us this week our 
weekly bread." But as it now is, by using it only one 
day in the week, we leave the supplies of the other six 
days unasked for. We acknowledge our dependance 
on God for only a seventh part of our time. 

Respectable people attended those prayer-meetings 
mentioned in Acts. 

Besides their synagogues, the Jews had oratories, or 
places of prayer, proseuchee. One is mentioned in Acts 
xvi, 13. 

It is strange that any should object to a prayer-meet- 
ing. How proper, as we carry much of the secularity 
of the week into the Sabbath, that we should carry 
something of the spirituality of the Sabbath into the 
week ! 



PRAISE 



Paul was one whose religion did not confine itself to 
the heart. He gave thanks as well as felt them. He 
offered praise. You will hear people say there is never 
a day, and scarcely an hour, that they do not feel 
grateful to God ; and yet they rarely, if ever, give any 
devout expression to their gratitude. The duty of 
solemn praise they seem to overlook altogether. But 
what should a man do with his tongue, if he do not 
therewith bless God % It is remarkable, that in the 
Bible the tongue is called the glory of the man, Ps. 
cviii, 1, not merely because it is the organ and inter- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 327 

preter of that reason by which we are distinguished 
above the brutes, but mainly, perhaps, because with it 
we utter the praises of the Most High, and show forth 
his mighty works. 

There is no way in which benevolence more beauti- 
fully displays itself than in thanking God for his favors 
to others. The world is rather, by the bounty of God 
to others, excited to envy and discontent. But, to re- 
joice with them- that do rejoice is necessary, in order to 
weep with them that weep. He who has no sympathy 
in our joys, has none in our sorrows. 

It indicates a sad state of things in any church when 
the business of praising God is attempted to be per- 
formed by representation, and when one of the objects 
in coming to a church is to hear fine music, rather 
than to celebrate, in one united anthem, the praises of 
the Most High. Why, we might as well go one step 
farther, and depute a few of the congregation to feel all 
the gratitude that is due from us, as well as to express 
it. Nothing is here intended against a choir, but only 
against the exclusive commitment of this part of wor- 
ship to a choir. 



RICHES. 



Riches, instead of satisfying, seem only to create 
appetite. 

Who is so poor as he who has nothing in the other 
world laid up, and can carry nothing out of this 1 



328 SELECT REMAINS OF 



WINE IN THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

The Catholics have never taken greater liberties 
with the Bible, nor any of the boldest and wildest 
interpreters of that abused book, than those misguided 
men who have, of late, begun to disuse, and to contend 
for the disuse, of wine at the sacrament of the Supper. 
How are the common people ever to be reconciled to 
such an interpretation, even if the learned could be 1 
Good people, when they hear of this new controversy, 
are beginning to wish that the Temperance Reforma- 
tion had never taken place ; and verily, if it is to 
deprive us of an ordinance of the New Testament, and 
leave us but half a sacrament, I heartily concur with 
them. [Among the last things he ever wrote.] 



BACKSLIDING. 

The truth is, the heart that turns itself away from 
God, divides itself among many objects. Forsaking 
the one fountain of living waters, it is not always em- 
ployed in constructing a single cistern, but is hewing 
out to itself cisterns ; and when one and another is 
broken, it hews out others that are equally incapable 
of holding water. Or, to change the mode of speech, 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 329 

how common it is, when a person is convinced of the 
vanity of one idol, instead of turning- from it to the 
service of God, he betakes himself to another idol 
equally vain ; and when that has disappointed his 
trust, he resorts to a third, still retaining- the idolatrous 
principle, though he successively changes its objects. 
He changes one idol for another of a different kind, but 
he does not renounce them all for God. 



CONFORMITY TO THE WORLIh 

Ye people of the world ! when We speak to those 
who profess to be " not of the world, as Christ was not 
of the world," and exhort them to act in a manner 
becoming their profession, we beg them not to be like 
you. We tell them that they must serve another mas- 
ter, and have another standard of duty — that they 
must not conform to your habits, nor pursue your 
pleasures, and that on the peril of their souls. Yes ! 
we tell them ttiat^ as they regard the approbation of 
God and the honor of Christ, their present peace and 
their everlasting felicity, they must be very unlike you 
of the world. Ah ! then, what must you be, that a 
Christian should belie his profession, and blast his 
hopes by being like you % What means the exhorta- 
tion to Christians " not to be conformed to the world," 

but that you are going the road to ruin ; and Jesus 

28* 



330 SELECT REMAINS OF 

Christ, wishing to save his disciples from going to per- 
dition, bids and beseeches them to separate from you, 
lest, in their communion with you, they should inspire 
the contagion of your principles and practices. This 
is a most serious matter. I beseech you, consider that 
you belong to a devoted community. 

What a contradiction is a worldly Christian ! He is 
an earthly-minded minder of heavenly things. 

When men, in extenuation of their grasping covet- 
ousness, which leads them into posts and places of 
great trial, plead that they can be as good in one place 
as another, they forget that such a remark is only true 
of those who are not good in any place. 



MARRIAGE. 



When a godly and an ungodly person intermarry, 
I always know what is to be the consequence. The 
pious one expects to convert the other to God. But 
ten to one the conversion is to the world. 

The forming of improper matrimonial alliances swell- 
ed the wickedness of man to such a height, that it pro- 
voked God to depopulate our earth. 

Marriage connections are often formed with the 
deceitful hope of bringing the worldly-minded party 
to adopt the views and practices, and embrace the 
hopes, of the other. But those whose piety is not suf- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 331 

ficient to restrain them from making such alliances, are 
by no means likely to exert a salutary influence upon 
thefr companions. They may be induced to make an 
external profession of religion, out of respect to those 
who persuade them. Entreaty may cause them to 
adopt the form of religion, but this is not the way to 
make them feel its power. Real success seldom at- 
tends such efforts. Take an example. Lot seems to 
have married a worldly-minded woman. That fact, 
combined with his own previous worldliness, kept his 
own piety low. Now, such piety as Lot's was, pos- 
sessed in such small measure, and corrupted by such 
unholy mixtures, does not often communicate itself. 
It did not in this case. The example of such Chris- 
tians is by no means impressive, and their prayers, if 
offered, are not apt to be prevalent. And a profession 
of religion, in our partner's or in any others, ought to 
be a subject of mourning rather than of rejoicing, when 
it is not the expression of real piety. 



THE HOUSE OF GOD. 

When men attend public worship but once on a 
Sabbath, and assign, as a reason, that they were read- 
ing the Bible, I suspect they could not have been 
reading the ninety-fifth Psalm, nor the twenty-fifth 
verse of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. 



332 SELECT REMAINS OF 



POLITICS AND RELIGION. 

There are scarcely any two things which coalesce 
with so much difficulty as politics and religion. The 
man that assiduously applies himself to the one, gene- 
rally does it at the sacrifice of the other. Meddle as 
little as possible with politics, if you mean to have 
any thing to do with religion. Exercise your right of 
suffrage in behalf of the best men that are presented 
for office, and if your fellow-citizens select you to serve 
them, serve them. This is the Christian's duty. But 
let him stop at this, and not covet office or court popu- 
larity. " How can they believe which receive honor 
one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh 
from God only." The politician may sometimes ask 
with Pilate— "What is truth ;" — but, like that unhap- 
py victim of the love of place and of popularity, he 
will rarety wait for an answer or repeat the question, 
but go out to parley with the people and hear what 
they have to say. 



VOWS. 

How many seem to think that there is virtue and 
advantage in the mere making of resolutions and pro- 
mises. Acting on this principle, they heap vows upon 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 333 

vows, and add promise to promise, and really ease their 
consciences in this way. They seem to think that 
they pay their vows by repeating them, and perform 
their promises by renewing them. The vows they 
made at one sacramental season they break in the 
interval, and then think to repair the breach by rema- 
king the vow. Was ever such a thing heard of] Was 
ever a promissory note paid by the renewal of it ] And 
that which is no payment when the matter is between 
man and man, who will dare to call payment when the 
matter is between man and God 1 Nay, the Scriptures 
teach, that a mere renewal, without a performance of 
promise to God, only involves the soul in deeper guilt : 
"Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that, 
thou shouldest vow and not pay." 



THE UNPAID VOW. 

He was sick — he was near unto death — and the 
world was receding from him — and hope was like a 
dying taper — and sore as was the body's agony, it was 
not like that pang the soul felt when the prospect of 
parting was before it, and the remembrance of the 
sunny day and starry night, and spring with all its 
awakened beauties, and the charm of friendship, and 
the exultant feeling 6f health, and the comfort of home, 
and all that enchains to life, all to be left behind, came 



334 SELECT REMAINS OF 

to his heart — Oh ! it was a confused mingling of pain, 
and regret, and dread. All was dark — all was wild. 
He " mourned sore like the dove — he chattered like 
the swallow." Then he cried unto God, and petitioned 
Jesus. And when his strength failed, he moaned a 
piteous prayer, and "Oh!" he said, "if I might be 
spared, if God would but raise me up, I would sin 
no more, and I would never forget the goodness ; I 
would be faithful, and my whole life should be a de- 
monstration of my thankfulness." And God heard and 
raised him up, and once more he went forth to the 
world. But, the promise he made to his Maker, he 
broke ; and in the oath wherewith he bound his soul, 
he perjured himself; and when one reminded him of 
that which should have been burned upon his memory, 
he smiled. " My soul, come thou not into his secret — 
mine honor, be thou not joined to his assembly." 



HEARING AND HEARERS. 

There are those, who hear as critics on manner 
and style, who bring their nicely adjusted balances 
along with them, to weigh words and sentences, and 
that they may determine on all the little proprieties of 
gesture, and attitude, and emphasis, and tone. They 
came to hear the man, and they esteem it of small con- 
sequence what he says, if he does but say it well. If 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 335 

he is logical, it matters not what he proves; if elo- 
quent, they care not what he is eloquent about. And, 
if they will take the pains to examine themselves, they 
will find that the impression made on them, has been 
made almost entirely by the manner of the preacher. 

Another class of hearers are sullenly complaisant. 
They never think of rebutting argument with argu- 
ment, or of dissenting, or, if they should, of giving a 
reason for their dissent ; but, the less they have to say 
against what is advanced, the more desperately are 
they set in the rejection of it. 

Across what a multitude of souls the truth floats and 
passes off, leaving no saving impression of itself, but 
merely disturbing the "mire and dirt of the troubled 
soul," and causing it, perhaps, to be deposited more 
fairly on the surface. 



TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL BLESS- 
INGS. 

Temporal blessings carry with them no promise of 
spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessing, however, does 
carry with it the promise of so much of temporal bless- 
ing, as God shall see to be either necessary, or for the 
good of the subject. There is no divine promise that if 
you seek first the things of this world, the things of the 
kingdom of God shall be added unto you ; but there is 



336 SELECT REMAINS OF 

a promise, that if you seek first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness, the other class of things shall be 
added unto you. Industry, with skill and economy, has 
the promise of the life that now is, but not also of the 
life that is to come. It is only godliness that has the 
promise of both — and hence it is great gain. So the 
God of truth affirms, but there is scarcely one in a hun- 
dred that believes it. I would observe on the points of 
difference between the two classes of benefits, that a 
profusion of those which are providential is not, under 
all circumstances, desirable ; and this explains why 
worldly prosperity does not uniformly accompany piety 
towards God. It is withheld in love, and therefore let 
no one conclude from its being withheld, that God is 
not favorable to him. I scarcely need remark, on the 
other hand, that spiritual blessings in the greatest 
abundance are, under all circumstances, desirable. 



YOUTH. 



Youth is the period of greatest interest, because it is 
the period of decision. It is the decisive season. What 
life is to immortality, youth is to life. Life decides for 
immortality, and youth decides for life, not invariably, 
but so very generally, as that the exceptions prove the 
rule. 

In the whole term of human life, there is but one 
flood tide. It commences its flow early. It reaches its 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 337 

height in youth. Happy they by whom it is taken, 
and the bark of the soul borne by it to a haven of safety. 
But if not taken, all after that is ebb. 

That must be the most dangerous period of life, which 
is the most fatal. There must be great risk, where there 
is so much ruin. If here the wreck is suffered, here the 
rock must lie. And is it not here that men strike and 
split ] Does not all experience agree in this 1 

Youth is peculiarly the period of conflict. Life is cor- 
rectly said to be a warfare. But the fiercest onset and 
the severest conflict is in youth ; and then, in most cases, 
the victory is won or lost forever. Then, if ever, the 
spirit lords it over the flesh, and reason is triumphant 
over the passions. Afterwards there may seem to be 
a victory of conscience and virtue, but the phenomenon 
arises rather from the exhaustion of passion. The fire 
was not extinguished. It burned out. Yes, it is in 
youth that we overcome the wicked one, or are over- 
come by him. John speaks of some young men who 
had gotten the victory : he says, " I write unto you, 
young men, because ye have overcome the wicked 
one." I wish all young men could be addressed as 
having done this. Come, engage in this warfare — 
come, contend for this victory. If you carry this post, 
the whole field shall be yours — if you gain this hour, 
the entire day shall be yours. And by and by you 
shall present that morally sublime spectacle to the eye 
of earth and heaven, which that illustrious soldier, Paul, 
once presented, a man standing on the line betwixt 
time and eternity, looking back on his conflict and for- 
ward to his crown, and saying, " I have fought a good 
29 



338 SELECT REMAINS OF 

fight — I have finished my course — I have kept the faith 
— henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righte- 
ousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give 
me at that day." 

Alas ! how many young men have to adopt a differ- 
ent language, and, when it is too late to recover their 
lost advantages, to say, as a dying youth once said, 
" The battle is fought, and the victory is lost forever." 



THE AGED. 



What a mournful sight is the aged sinner. He is 
condemned. For sixty or seventy years has his Sove- 
reign protracted the period of his reprieve, and what 
has he been doing all that time'? Has he been honestly 
and earnestly trying to have his reprieve made a par- 
don, and to get the sentence of condemnation removed] 
No ! He has not put forth one hearty effort for that — 
he has scarcely spent a solemn thought upon it. What, 
then, has he been doing 1 Hear, Oh heavens, and be 
astonished, Oh earth ! he has been exerting himself 
to increase his prison accommodations — he has been 
engaged in acquiring property, in taking pleasure, and 
in seeking distinction among his fellow-convicts. 

The aged may look back to the sins and follies of 
youth, and say, smilingly, that then they were " sow- 
ing their wild oats." But it is no laughing matter. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 339 

Many have already reaped ruin from that sowing, and 
many will be to all eternity gathering a rueful harvest 
from it. I have no doubt that the ruin of very many 
has been owing to the currency of the sentiment, that 
young people must be permitted to sow their wild oats. 
Parents have thoughtlessly admitted the correctness of 
the sentiment, and have, consequently, indulged their 
children in follies and sins, from the power of which 
they were never after able to rescue them. 



THE FUTURE. 

"Boast not thyself of to-morrow" — is a precept dis- 
regarded by him who prepares only to live, and not to 
die, on to-morrow. To take it for granted that you 
will die to-morrow, and to act as if it were certain, is 
equally presumptuous as to assume that you will live 
to-morrow and to act accordingly. You may live 
through to-morrow. Then be prepared for it — prose- 
cute your plans — pursue your business — be industrious 
and enterprising. But be not unmindful that there is 
another branch of the alternative. You may not live 
through to-morrow. Be prepared equally for that. 
I would have you equally prepared for to-morrow, 
whether it be a prolongation of time, or the beginning 
of eternity. It may be either. Are you prepared for 
it, which-ever it be % To-morrow may introduce you 



340 SELECT REMAINS OF 

into the presence of God, may close the account of life, 
may withdraw the offer of mercy, may cut short the 
opportunity of salvation. What if it should 1 Are you 
ready for that interview and that reckoning 1 Have 
you accepted the offer and improved the opportunity 1 
This day, whose hours are so rapidly passing away, 
may be to you the last day of grace. The invitation 
which the Saviour now addresses to you may be the 
last he will ever make. Shall this day, then, be 
wasted 1 Shall this invitation be refused ? To-night 
the door may shut. Reader, would it shut you in or 
out, forever ? 



HUMAN LIFE. 



Most men are more anxious how they may sail 
adown this narrow and shallow inlet of life, than how 
they shall navigate the ocean of Eternity, into which it 
opens, and whither current and tide, wind and air, are 
combined to hasten them. 

This life derives its chief importance, not from its 
length, nor from its pains and pleasures, nor from any 
abstract magnitude that there is in its incidents and 
occupations, but from the fact that it is the life of an 
accountable being, and is itself the seed-time for eter- 
nity — the period of an immortal soul's probation, its 
only probation. All the rest is harvest time. All be- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 341 

yond the grave is retribution. It is of more conse- 
quence how we live and act now, than it can be in any 
portion of our existence hereafter. This life is not for 
ease — "Wo to them that are at ease." How unsuit- 
able is ease now, when your trial has not yet come on, 
when the business of your embassy into this world is 
not yet accomplished, the orders of your master not yet 
fulfilled, your stewardship not surrendered. We shall 
be accountable beings forever, and that wherever we 
may be ; but it is on the manner of regarding that 
accountability in this first brief portion of our existence, 
that the condition of the whole is made to depend. 
Within a single hour of Adam's life he decided the fate 
of the world. By one accountable act he ruined him- 
self and us. Compared with this, what was all he ever 
did afterwards. 

We live all our time at the mercy of merciless death. 



LENGTH OF LIFE. 

It would not be for the promotion of the salvation of 
the race of men to lengthen human life. The experi- 
ment has been tried, and how completely did it fail. 
Life has been shortened in mercy. God is to be praised 
that men live no longer. If it were found to be a fact, 
that many persons repent and turn to God in very 
advanced life, our judgment would be different. But 



342 SELECT REMAINS OP 

that is notoriously not the fact. Generally, the mind 
is made up on the subject of religion early in life, and, 
when made up, there is rarely a reconsideration of the 
question. This is specially true of those who enjoy the 
advantages of a religious education, or the faithful 
ministrations of the Gospel. If, then, men grow worse 
as they grow old — are farther removed from a disposi- 
tion to repentance as they are carried forward in life, 
why should they live longer 1 If the) r will not repent 
at seventy, would they at seven hundred 1 But why 
does any one complain that he has not space enough 
for repentance] It is because he wishes to employ the 
time he has in something else than repentance. 



THIS LIFE AND THE NEXT. 

If it is worth while to labor to be happy for the first 
seventy years of your existence, why should you not 
make equal provision for the second seventy, and for 
the third, and for as many as your existence may be 
divided into 1 Does the fact, that the second septuage- 
nary term of years is to be passed in another world, 
make the happiness of it less desirable and less worthy 
of your labor, than if the period of your earthly exist- 
ence were extended to twice threescore and ten *? If 
there is a something that is capable of diffusing comfort 
and happiness through that second period of years, is it 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 343 

not as deserving of human attention, and study, and 
toil, as that is which makes the first seventy comfort- 
able and happy "? How much more, if the second divi- 
sion of our existence is a duration absolutely without 
end ] It is hard to be accounted for, even in a depraved 
creature, that he should be so exceedingly anxious 
about himself until a certain day and hour of his exist- 
ence, and perfectly regardless of his interests beyond 
that — that a being who is more certain that he shall 
live forever, than he is that he shall survive another 
year, should be so eager to labor and lay up for that 
which is both brief and uncertain, and at the same 
time so indifferent about providing for a certain immor- 
tality — so assiduous to lay up something for the soul so 
long as it may preserve its connection with the body, 
and perfectly careless what becomes of it so soon as it 
leaves its miserable clay, and begins to exist in another 
state, and with its capacities of enjoyment and suffering 
far more exquisite than they even were before. 



TIME AND ETERNITY. 

Is it not strange, that the only things we do not pre- 
pare for are those things which will inevitably occur ; 
while those things which, besides that they are of infe- 
rior importance, only may occur, it is our aim and 
endeavor to be fully prepared for. We are so engaged, 



344 SELECT REMAINS OF 

so absorbed in preparing for an uncertain life, that we 
omit to prepare for a certain death. 

Heaven sees no spectacle on earth so melancholy, as 
the sportiveness of souls on the brink of an unblest 
eternity. 

If men make so much and so rapid progress in evil 
here, where there exist so many restraints and hin- 
drances to evil, and so many means of good, what must 
be the progress of the impenitent hereafter ; how swift, 
how awful ! In hell there will be no restraint from 
evil, and no means of good ; no Sabbath, no Bible, no 
good Spirit, no Saviour. He will be in the midst of 
such company, and surrounded by such examples, and 
uninvited to any effort at restraint, much less refor- 
mation, by any ray of hope that would in the least 
avail. 

Tell me what is behind you, and I will tell you what 
is before you. 

If, in time, men become so vile as to be the incarna- 
tion of evil, what must they not be in eternity. 



ETERNITY. 



How near, Oh ! how very near are the eternal reali- 
ties, judgment, heaven, and hell — as near as death — 
nearer than the grave. The soul reaches home before 
the body does. 



William nevins, d. d. 345 

Even (he t.ick of a watch may sometimes shake and 
trouble an immortal spirit, when he reflects how swiftly 
it is numbering off the calculable records of life, telling 
off the little moments of this short preface to his eter- 
nity ; and he thinks how, in a little while, when its 
tale shall be told, and himself shall be where there is 
no year, month, day, nor hour ; because no sun, or moon, 
or mechanism to measure, but all is one unmeasured, 
immeasurable eternity. Time is to man, in some re- 
spects, a more serious season than eternity. Eternity 
is absolutely the creature of time, derives all its cost 
and character from time ; is troubled or serene, inviting 
or revolting, happy or miserable, a blessing or a curse, 
as time, omnipotent time, ordains it. 

Seventy centuries, even seventy millenaries, will not 
be worth as much to an inhabitant of eternity as seventy 
years are to an inhabitant of time. 

How will the mind brighten and expand while it 
basks beneath the beams of eternity ! What an influx 
of ideas, new and grand, will the spirit receive on its 
first liberation from the confinement of the body ! Oh ! 
who can preach a sermon with eternity for his text ! 



A NEW YEAR'S WISH. 

Mv wish for ail my friends, on this day of good 
wishes, I would thus express : — " My heart's desire and 
prayer to God for you all is, that you may be saved. 



346 SELECT REMAINS OF 

The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and 
into the patient waiting for Christ ; and the Lord make 
you to increase and abound in love one toward another, 
and toward all men, to the end he may establish your 
hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our 
Father, at the coming- of our Lord Jesus Christ, with 
all his saints." 



NEARNESS OF DEATH. 

We sometimes seem to be nearer death than at 
others, but the whole progress of life is in the closest 
proximity to it. We are not merely tending towards a 
brink, over which ultimately, when we arrive at it, we 
must plunge. Even then, our condition would be fear- 
ful. But, in all our progress, we are travelling upon 
that brink. Our way winds along the perilous edge of 
the precipice. This makes our condition more fearful 
— this perpetual insecurity — this ever present and immi- 
nent peril. It is not the certainty of the fact in regard 
to death, that is so very appalling to the soul. It is 
the uncertainty of the time. It is not that ultimately 
we must die, but that presently we may. It is the 
thought of being always near to that last great evil, 
always adjacent to the judgment, always close upon 
the borders of eternity, and always within a little of 
our everlasting abode — the journey from every point of 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 347 

our path so short, a single stage, a single step ! now 
here and anon there ; this hour with men, the next with 
God. To-day, only a candidate for immortality, to- 
morrow its incumbent. To-day on trial for eternity, 
to-morrow tried, and the case decided irreversibly and 
forever. To-day on earth, to-morrow in heaven or in 
hell — nor yet the interval so great as a day. What a 
change awaits us in both body and soul ! How fearful 
it would be, even if it were gradually brought about, if 
one by one, the objects of earth faded from our view, 
and the novelties of eternity were slowly and separately 
unfolded to our vision, and if, one by one, the mysteri- 
ous ligaments of life were sundered ; if the summons of 
death designated a distant day for our appearance at 
the bar of God, and our way to it was long and diffi- 
cult. But how much more fearful, when the change is 
as sudden as it is great, the familiar scenes of one world 
all vanishing at once, and the unimagined realities of 
the other all at once appearing ; the summons of death 
requiring immediate attendance at the bar of God, and 
the way but a step. And there is no period of life that 
death respects, no sanctuary into which he dare not 
enter, no citadel that he is afraid to attack. Nor will 
he ever depart from us more than the space of a step, 
though he may long maintain that distance from us. 
How solemn, that to-morrow thou mayest have to give 
account to God for the deeds of to-day ; or to-day, for 
the deeds of yesterday. How many accounts are closed 
every day ! how many cases decided at that court of 
final judicature ! how many characters become un- 
changeably fixed in righteousness or unrighteousness ! 



348 SELECT REMAINS OF 

How many souls daily go to their last, long abodes ! 
And, as death and judgment are so near, retribution is 
also at hand. The trial of your case will not occupy 
much time, and then immediately will ensue retribu- 
tion. And, if retribution is so near to all, how near is 
perdition to some. There is but a step between the 
impenitent and hell ! And, for the same reason, is the 
Christian near heaven ! ** Your redemption draweth 
nigh." 



DEATH. 



The prospect of death discloses things to us, which, 
through life, we see not, or are inattentive to. The 
foolish virgins, not till the coming of the bridegroom, 
found out that they had no oil ; or, if they knew it, 
they regarded it not. 

The most careless through life often express great 
concern when life is closing. 

That man, who has never quaked at thoughts of 
death, is not fit to die ; and he, who has never trembled 
at the prospect of meeting God, is not prepared to meet 
him ; and he, that has never stood in awful apprehen- 
sion of the retribution that awaits the guilty, is full 
likely to realize its horrors. 

Of some men whom I have known, and who intend- 
ed, by and by, to come to Christ, and who are now in 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 349 

eternity, this is the history. One died without being 
sick. Another was sick here, in the brain. A third, in 
his sickness, still put it off. A fourth spoke of a cal- 
lousness that had come over his heart, by reason of 
which he could not feel. A fifth hastily ran into a 
refuge of lies. A sixth found he had quenched and put 
out the last spark of the Spirit. He had ceased to 
strive. He called and cried in vain — God let him 
alone. He found, too late, that He was a being not to 
be trifled with. That was fulfilled in his case — " I will 
laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear 
cometh." 

How oft there is not only no twilight to the evening 
of life, but no evening ; nor yet the noon reached, nor 
even the morning sun high in the heavens. And how 
oft there is no premonition, but death intrudes into the 
midst of life, and not gradually withereth the flower, 
but rudely and suddenly sears its stem. 

What a change is wrought in death ! It is a very 
awful thing, even to die in the Lord. Remember this, 
Christian ! In the morning thou art here, panting, 
laboring, dying — and before it is night on earth, thou 
art in distant Paradise, breathing its air and partaking 
in its delights— from this sphere and these revolutions, 
removed in a twinkling, where there is no need of sun 
or moon, but the living light of the divine glory illu- 
mines all. Now thou art with thy earthly friends and 
acquaintance, and anon with Christ, and one in the 
General Assembly and Church of the First-born — this 
hour taking drinks and medicines from a nurse's hand, 

and a few hours afterwards it is given thee to drink of 
30 



350 SELECT REMAINS OF 

living waters, and to eat of the fruit of the tree of life 
in the midst of the paradise of God. The poor male- 
factor, who came out of his prison to be crucified with 
Christ, as forlorn and hopeless a creature as lived, be- 
fore the evening lights were kindled in Jerusalem, was 
a sanctified and saved spirit, in the happy society of 
saints and angels. What a change for this poor fel- 
low ! And, to every one that trusts in Jesus, it shall 
be in like manner. 

There is a sense in which Jesus Christ, and the 
Spirits around his throne, have no sympathy with us 
in our lamentations over the pious dead. They rejoice 
at meeting one who has accomplished his warfare, and 
overcome through the blood of the Lamb. 



ANOTHER VICTORY OVER DEATH. 

The great battle with this enemy was fought on the 
field of Calvary. Then the Prince of life met him, and, 
turning his own weapons against him, vanquished him. 
True, the victor, died ; for it was only by death, that 
death could be overcome ; and the victory was none the 
less complete and glorious on that account. Every 
victory over death, since that, has been but the fruit of 
that first great victory. It is our Lord Jesus Christ, 
who, having himself gained, now giveth us the victory. 
We are conquerors, and more than conquerors, through 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 351 

him that hath loved us. He putteth the palm in our 
hands. A multitude, which no man can number, have, 
through him, triumphed over death. 

I was witness to one of these victories the other day. 
There was no conflict in the case — death made no show 
of resistance. He just gave up at once. He did not 
even look formidably. The victor, in this instance, 
remembered Calvary ; and death, also, seemed to re- 
member it. He has never recovered his spirit since 
that conflict, so fatal to him. He never will. Death 
is abolished to him that believeth in Jesus. " He that 
believeth shall never die." That which remains is not 
worthy of the name of death. Death is dark ; but the 
scene I witnessed was bright, above the splendors of 
the mid-day sun. I asked the victor (I will not say 
victim) if it was bright to him. He said, in effect — 
" bright as light could make it." Death is frightful. 
But here was no fear. I asked the dying conqueror if 
he had any fear — " None at all," he said. His counte- 
nance had told me that before. He was young — he 
had much to live for, and a few weeks before he had 
fondly loved life. But the love of life went with the 
fear of death. By nature he loved life, by grace he 
loved life eternal. It was the love of life, even of 
immortality, that made him willing to die. He loved 
life too well to live. 

Death is sorrowful. But there was no sorrow here, 
except in those who stood around. " This is the hap- 
piest moment I ever experienced," he said to me ; and, 
certainly, his looks never before expressed such happi- 
ness. He realized the wish of the Persian poet ; and he 



352 SELECT REMAINS OF 

smiled while all around him wept. In short, death, hi 
this case, not only suffered a defeat, but was swallowed 
up in victory, so that I saw nothing of it. And how 
came it to pass 1 I have already intimated. Was this 
a victory of nature 1 No. Was it a triumph of Phi- 
losophy 1 No. It was an achievement of grace. Na- 
ture tamely succumbs to death. Philosophy submits 
with calmness to the inevitable decree. It is only 
Christianity which overcomes. I asked the young 
man if Christ was now precious — " Oh yes ! — He is 
everything — my all !" — was his reply. I said, " Is 
He not enough 1" " All-sufficient," he replied, " I 
need nothing more." At a moment of more than com- 
mon rapture, he called for the singing of his favorite 
hymn. During the singing, his aspect was unearthly. 



RESURRECTION. 

Many think to avoid difficulties urged by cavillers 
against the doctrine of a resurrection, by denying the 
identity of the risen body with that which died, and by 
introducing the figment of a merely spiritual, or airy 
vehicle, or etherial covenant ; and, if they do not ex- 
clude every thing material from the raised body, yet 
they think it indifferent whether it be constructed from 
the ruins of the old body or not, and so they make the 
resurrection to be a new creation. Thus they remove 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 353 

every objection by sacrificing the doctrine. Against 
the resurrection which they teach, there is plainly no 
room for cavilling. Against that which Paul taught, 
by his own confession, there was. There is nothing 
more evident from the Scriptures, than that the resur- 
rection is represented to be a change, and not a crea- 
tion. " These vile bodies shall be changed, and made 
like to Christ's glorious body." The very same " which 
is sown in dishonor," is to be " raised in glory." The 
very same " that was sown in weakness, is to be raised 
in power." This very " corruptible is to put on incor- 
ruption," and this identical "mortal is to wear immor- 
tality." If the raised body shall not be, in a measure, 
the same with that which we now possess, why is it 
called a resurrection of the body, and not the creation 
of a body 1 Why are the graves to open, if nothing is 
to come out of them 1 Why are the earth and the sea 
spoken of as delivering up their dead, if this theory be 
true 1 Such modes of expression as those just referred 
to, must be admitted to lack identity at the two grand 
points of death and the resurrection. If any curiously 
ask the puzzling question — "Wherein consists this iden- 
tity," I reply, " If you please, we will let this remain a 
puzzle until the morning of the resurrection. But if 
not, will you tell us wherein consists the identity of the 
body you now possess, and that you had twenty or 
thirty years ago 1 And if you cannot tell, why, then, 
do you call it the same ?" Yet all men do thus think 
and speak. As to the difficulty of finding, and recog- 
nizing, and reanimating the particles, it is enough to 

ask — " Is any thing too hard for God." " Why should 
30* 



354 SELECT REMAINS OF 

it be thought a thing incredible with you that God 
should raise the dead V 

To me, the resurrection of the body is not half so 
mysterious, as the everlasting disunion of the soul and 
body would be. 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 

We have seen Jesus at the bar of Pilate. We shall 
see Pilate at the bar of Jesus. 

Every man has a case pending in the court of eternal 
judgment, in which property is concerned, even his 
right to the tree of life, and his title to the inheritance 
that fadeth not away ; and liberty is involved, the free- 
dom of the soul from the most cruel tyranny that ever 
oppressed and degraded man ; and life is at stake, not 
this life only, which, if it be not violently cut off, soon 
terminates of itself, but a life to which this is not as the 
minutest dew-drop to the shoreless and unfathomable 
ocean. If this case be decided against you, you forfeit 
that right and title to heaven, you lose the freedom of 
the soul, and you entail upon your immortality a curse, 
which causes it to have all the evils of death, and to be 
called death, while it has none of its immunities. And 
the day of trial is approaching. You have already been 
summoned to be in readiness, for you know not the 
hour when you will be called to trial. Are you pre- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 355 

pared for trial 1 Have you secured the advocacy of 
him who alone can successfully manage your cause 1 

How intensely interesting and awful a day will that 
of the judgment be ! It would seem as if Christ was 
always thinking of it. How frequently he speaks of it, 
and never but with the deepest solemnity. 

It is the judgment-seat of Christ before which we 
are to appear. "The Father judgeth no man, but has 
committed all judgment to the Son." Christian, what 
a subject thou hast here for thy heart's most fond medi- 
tation — thy Saviour thine arbiter — thy advocate and 
thy judge the same. What client would not be willing 
that his own counsel should decide his case ! Dost 
thou tremble at the thought of going to judgment ] 
Why, it is but to go to Christ — to Him who has already 
taken thy burden and given thee rest. Once He has 
already accepted thee. Will He change his mind and 
reject thee ? Will he not honor his own righteousness, 
which he has put on thee 1 Shall not his pleadings for 
thee prevail, when he pleads, as it were, with himself 
— and his intercessions on thy behalf are made to his 
own heart, that sorrowed for thee, and to his own 
bosom, that bled for thee 1 " Who is he that condemn- 
eth 1 Is it Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen 
again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also 
maketh intercession for us V Impossible ! And yet, 
if He does not condemn, who can, since He is the 
judge 1 This arrangement, by which the sinner's Sa- 
viour is his judge, constitutes one among the many 
surpassing beauties of Christianity. I wonder that the 
mere man of taste is not struck with it. Child of God, 



356 SELECT REMAINS OF 

follower of the Lamb, press the thought to thy heart, 
cherish it among thy richest recollections. So shalt 
thou have "boldness in the day of judgment." 

How much more our actions mean, than we suppose 
they do. The wicked, until the judgment day, will 
not know, that in refusing acts of kindness to the pious 
poor, they were refusing to feed and clothe Christ. 
They thought it was but some poor, weak people, called 
Christians, who made much ado about religion, that 
they had thus neglected. They did not mean any 
direct affront to Christ, but so he takes it. " I am 
Jesus, whom thou persecutest," said the voice from 
heaven to the astonished Saul of Tarsus. 

The doctrine of an adjusting judgment, if it have any 
place in the system of natural religion, is inferred from 
the Divine justice, and cannot, therefore, be adduced in 
proof of it. That were to reason in a circle. 

At the last judgment, a day of insufferable splendor 
will dawn upon us ; a scene of tremendous magnifi- 
cence will be displayed before these eyes, and these 
ears will hear that trumpet's stunning thunder. And 
you and I, who are now before a mercy-seat, will 
encompass a judgment-seat. 

There is one controversy which the last day shall 
forever determine — the long and unhappy controversy 
about the Divinity of Jesus. How it shall be decided I 
leave you to judge, after I shall have asked a few ques- 
tions. If the mover of all those sublime scenes, the 
agent in all those grand transactions, be not God, where 
is God 1 and why takes he no part in the doings of this 
last tremendous day ? If Omnipotence be not in this 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 357 

work of general desolation, where is Omnipotence slum- 
bering? Where is the work that befits Omnipotence 1 
If a mere creature is sitting on the throne of the Uni- 
verse, where sits Jehovah 1 Tell me, Reason. And 
why and where has he retired, when now the destiny 
of men and angels is determining'? If it be not Om- 
niscience on that throne, if not Omniscience, which, 
from the lost archangel down to the least human sin- 
ner, sears every life, searches every spirit, and scru- 
tinizes the inmost thoughts and the deepest purposes, 
what has Omniscience to do ? I had thought it was 
Deity, at whose stepping forth the everlasting moun- 
tains are scattered, and the perpetual hills do bow — 
Deity, from whose face the heaven and the earth do 
flee away — Deity, that keeps the keys of death and of 
hell — Deity, who sits on the throne of the universe — 
Deity, at whose hands I am to receive the eternal 
recompense. 



MORAL RESULTS. 

No results are so important and magnificent as moral 
results — those which affect the character, and through 
it, the destiny of intelligent beings. There is no evil 
like that of sin, no good like that of holiness. There is 
no beauty like that which sometimes adorns the soul, 
no deformity like that which sometimes, yea, often, 



358 SELECT REMAINS OF 

debases it. The discovery of a continent, the revolu- 
tion of an empire, the political emancipation of a nation, 
are nothing when compared with the renovation of a 
soul. There is no earthly achievement to compare 
with this. Nothing that takes place on earth moves 
angels to rejoice as this does. There is no calamity 
like the loss of a soul. No physical destruction, no 
political downfall involves a ruin like that which is 
effected, when a single immortal spirit perishes. The 
most important moral results are those accomplished by 
the Gospel. 

It will prove to some their greatest misfortune, that 
they have heard of the name of Jesus Christ. Thus 
shall that be suffered to aggravate, which was intended 
to remove condemnation. The rock of salvation be- 
comes a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence ; and 
that which was intended to be built upon, falling, 
crushes to powder. How melancholy, that any should 
be worse off through eternity, in consequence of a 
Saviour's coming. 



THE SUPPER OF THE LAMB. 

The marriage-feast of the New Testament will be 
celebrated on the evening of the day of judgment. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 359 



HEAVEN. 



A rest remaineth to the people of God. The mean- 
est saint shall enjoy it. The moment he shall put off 
this robe of mortality, the mantle of Elijah's God shall 
descend and cover him. 

This world is to heaven, what the inn upon the road 
is to the home at the end of it. 

God is everywhere, but not so manifestly in all places 
as he is in some select places. He is everywhere, but 
his Shekinah is not everywhere. He does not reveal 
himself everywhere. The glory of the Lord filled the 
ancient temple, but it dwelt peculiarly and visibly above 
the mercy-seat, in the most holy place. The glory of 
God fills the earth, but there are localities in the uni- 
verse where it shines forth with peculiar splendor. God 
is everywhere, but his " presence, where there is fulness 
of joy," is not everywhere. Heaven is not merely a 
state. 

Grace is the infancy of glory — glory the maturity of 
grace. Grace is the head of glory — glory the ripe fruit 
of grace. 

How glorious and happy a place heaven must be, into 
which there shall nothing enter that defileth. There 
we shall never, never sin. Oh ! it is the grand recom- 
mendation of heaven, that there, there is no sin. The 
cause not being there, none of the effects will be there 
— no natural evil, because no moral evil ; no debility, 
deformity, disease, ache, pain, perturbation, fear, an- 



360 SELECT REMAINS OF 

guish, nor sadness. No tear shall fall, no blood be 
spilt, no separation occur, no bereavement be felt, no 
disappointment, no satiety, no death. 



FUTURE PUNISHMENT. 

The penalty of neglecting the Gospel, shall never 
exhaust its pains upon the soul. 

Painful as the loss of a member is, more painful will 
be the subjection of the whole body to the eating of 
the worm that never dies, and the action of the fire 
that is not quenched. Better cross the will, than 
wound the conscience. There is no suffering like that 
which is inflicted on a man by his own conscience. 
No sting pierces so deep and so keen as that. Men 
dread and deprecate material fire ; but there is a flame 
that burns more intensely, and torments more exquis- 
itely, than that. It is the wrath of an offended and 
injured God. Ah ! who can dwell with that ? Who 
can lie down on a bed of such burnings, so intense, and 
everlasting too 1 Ah ! how its first attack unnerved 
and overcame the self-indulgent man, of whose state, 
after death, our Saviour tells us. Ah ! how will ye 
self-indulgent men, children of pleasure, be able to 
bear these things, how brace yourselves to such suffer- 
ings 1 Ye, who have been accustomed to another kind 
of bed, when ye must lie down on this, what will ye 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 361 

do 1 Ye, who can scarce endure a disagreeable sensa- 
tion, the derangement of a single nerve, how will ye be 
able to abide the eternal annoyance of the worm that 
never dies'? "If thy hand offend thee, cut it off; if 
thine eye, pluck it out — it is better for thee." 

Sinners are taking measures most effectually to bring 
on themselves the very evils which they are most anx- 
ious to avoid. They are afraid of being laughed at — 
they cannot bear contempt and ridicule, and, therefore, 
they remain irreligious. Surely they forget that this is 
the very method to secure a resurrection to shame and 
everlasting contempt — to make Christ and his angels 
ashamed of them in the last day, and to cause Him that 
sitteth in the heavens to hold them in derision, while 
eternity endures. 

Some say the doctrine of future punishment may 
be believed, though it be false, for it does good. But, 
if false, the doctrine ought to be exploded. It is doing 
mischief. It is creating unnecessary terror, under the 
influence of which it is not the will of God that his 
rational creatures should act. If they cannot be per- 
suaded into their duty by the truth, he does not wish 
them to be frightened into it by error. It is libellous 
towards God, that error is better than truth. The 
Bible scorns such pleadings, when it warns us of the 
wrath to come, and announces a hell of torment, with 
as perfect clearness as it does a heaven of delight. 

If all the wicked shall go away into everlasting pun- 
ishment, it is but a sorry consolation that there are 
different degrees of suffering in the world of wo. I 

admit that there will be varieties of misery among the 
31 



362 SELECT REMAINS OF 

subjects of perdition, and, in vindication of the justice 
of God, the doctrine should be preached ; but let it not 
be misunderstood, let it not be made a ground of con- 
solation, which it was never intended to be, to the 
wicked. Yes, there will be varieties, but let it be con- 
sidered what every variety will include : the bitterness 
of the wrath of God, the blackness of darkness forever, 
the loss of heaven, the forfeiture of the Divine favor, 
the worm that never dies', the fire that is not quenched, 
eternity, and its child by misery, despair. Will any 
cup be tolerable, which has these ingredients in ill Is 
there any consolation here 1 Will you be spending 
your time in comparing one flame with another, in 
point of fierceness, or one worm with another, in point 
of appetite, when you ought to be fleeing from the 
wrath to come, and reaching forth to lay hold on the 
hope that is set before you 1 



HELL. 

That state must be exceedingly dreadful, whose 
horrors are aggravated, and whose sufferings are in- 
creased, by the society of the nearest relatives and 
dearest friends one had on earth. Such is the state 
of the lost. See Luke xvi, 28. 

How intense, unmixed, and uniform, the enjoyment 
of every impenitent sinner ought to be, when one thinks 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 363 

how short it is, and how irrecoverable, and what comes 
when it is gone — shame and ruin. 

Many say they do not believe God ever made a crea- 
ture to damn him, and, in so saying, suppose they say 
a very smart thing, and something quite conclusive in 
favor of their salvation. It is admitted that God never 
made a creature to damn him. But, is a thing never 
put to a use for which it was not originally designed 1 
God never made a creature to suffer damnation. Nei- 
ther did he ever make a creature to sin, and to deserve 
damnation. But creatures have sinned, and have de- 
served it, though it was not the object for which they 
were originally made. See Ezekiel, 15th chapter. 

There is as much in the Bible to prove that all men 
will go to hell, as that all will go to heaven ; and, for 
my part, I would as soon undertake to maintain the 
position that every body will be lost, as that every body 
will be saved. 

It is written with the pen of heaven that there is a 

HELL. 

I pity any man, whose only hope that he will be 
saved, is the hope that all will be saved ; and whose 
expectation of escaping hell is, that there is no such 
place. 

The radical error of Universalism is, its utter con- 
founding, and even abolishing, of distinctions in moral 
character, and its utter disregard of the great doctrine 
of the conditions or terms of salvation. 

We might as well infer from the goodness of God, 
that there never has been any suffering in the world, 
and that all mankind are, at this moment, as happy as 



364 SELECT REMAINS OF 

they are capable of being, in defiance of the most 
assured knowledge of every man, as to conclude from 
that attribute of Jehovah, that there shall be no suffer- 
ing in the world to come. If, because God is good, I 
may be certain that I shall be happy in eternity, I may, 
for the same reason, infer that I shall be happy to-mor- 
row, next day, and throughout life. If God's goodness, 
which is perfect and infinite, be any argument against 
suffering, it must stand good against all, the least, 
suffering. And, if my persuasion that God wishes well 
to his creatures may reconcile me to be unconcerned 
and inactive for eternity, why should it not reconcile 
me to an equal unconcern and inaction for all coming 
time 1 Surely I can trust a good and merciful God for 
one period of my existence, as well as for another. 
Will not He, whom men expect to take care of their 
eternal interests, without any concern on their part, 
take equal care of their temporal interests 1 Why are 
they not, then, as thoughtless and improvident for this 
life, as they are for that which is to come 1 It is sin, 
and not a proper regard to '.he goodness of God, that 
makes men unconcerned about their souls. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 365 



TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF THE 
REV. SYLVESTER LARNED. 

A rich and noble trophy hath death taken in him, 
the saddening news of whose departure, has just reached 
us. I say nothing, because he needs not the breath of 
human eulogy to fan his spirit to its resting-place ; for 
already it is hushed and happy upon the bosom of its 
God. But I allude to him that I may answer a de- 
mand from this heart, met, I trust, by a demand from 
many hearts in this congregation, that I may speak of 
him from the place he so loved and honored — that I 
may leave with you, my brief and feeble testimony of 
his worth. 

He was just going, after having completed his aca- 
demical course, to give himself to the world ; but then 
the Almighty whispered to his heart. He heard, and 
went to the temple, and presenting himself before the 
altar, consecrated himself and his talents to God. God 
accepted the offering, and holy fire came down and 
animated him. When he came before the world, in 
spite of the urgency of many solicitations, the charm 
of Christian society, the voice of friendship and of fame, 
more fascinating than all, intreating him to stay ; he 
betook himself to the intrepid work of introducing the 
Gospel into that city of living and breathing death. 
He accomplished what none had the courage to at- 
tempt, and was devising more, when, long ere he had 

reached the noon of his life, the summons came to 
31* 



366 



SELECT REMAINS OF 



demand the residue of his day. God said it was 
enough ; and he breathed out his great and gallant 
spirit to him who gave it. This rich and valued speci- 
men of man, around which his fellow-men used to 
gather, to look upon it and admire, and which every 
one wished to call his own, its Maker has reclaimed 
for himself, and keeps it in his cabinet of men made 
perfect. 

The testimony to his worth and greatness is in the 
strange and unheard of fact, that the fall of a young 
man of twenty-four has sent a shock of sorrow through 
the States, and awakened emotions of deep and real 
grief, where he was never seen nor heard. 

Scarcely has death ever stopped the beat of a warmer 
or more expanded heart, or quenched, so far as it can 
quench, the light of a more brilliant intellect. But it 
is all over. The music of his beseeching eloquence, 
winning souls to God, shall be heard no more ; but it 
shall live in the memory of many. His absence shall 
help to wean many hearts from the world. He was 
one of those few men, whose death shall make us wil- 
ling to die. And, in the general revelation, these eyes 
shall see him again in peace, these ears shall hear, this 
hand shall grasp the hand no longer chilled, and this 
heart shall again commingle and coalesce with the 
heart of him for whom it feels. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 367 



EXTRACTS FROM DISCOURSES. 



The following pages consist of detached thoughts, notices of striking events, 
&c, taken from the Scrap-books of Dr. Nevins. It is not supposed that 
he is the author of every line or sentence ; yet it was his constant habit to 
give credit in his Scrap-books for quotations. All thus marked as quoted, 
or known to be taken from others, are here omitted. It was at one time 
intended to arrange the following sentences either in chapters according 
to the subject, or to incorporate them with the matter of the foregoing 
pages ; but a little reflection soon suggested the inutility, and even unde- 
sirableness, of such an arrangement, even if it were made. 

Can you think of these things and not feel the im- 
pulse of gratitude 1 Can you believe in all this love 
and not be constrained by it] Can you contemplate 
the riches of creation all made over to you 1 Can you 
look at the bounties of Providence, filling all your 
desires and anticipating all your wants 1 Can you 
behold the cross of your redemption, and see your 
atonement in that blood, and your life in that death, 
and go away and refuse to give up yourselves in con- 
secration to that God, who stretched out and garnished 
creation, presides in Providence, and reared the cross 1 

The radical error of the Unitarian system is, that 
men are saved by power or influence. But the truth is, 
we are saved, not by any action, but by a passion — not 
by exertion, but by endurance — not by any vital ener- 
gy, but by dying blood. It was not finished till Christ 
died. We are made nigh by the blood of Christ, and 
by his stripes healed. 



368 



SELECT REMAINS OP 



Methinks the manner of our salvation should greatly 
affect us — that we live because Christ died — and that 
our joys are the fruit of his sorrows. 

The neglect of any duty is as dangerous as the neg- 
lect of all duty. 

One allowed sin is as certainly fatal as a thousand. 
— That which makes sin so evil and fatal, is, that its 
object is God. 

If I could find any way of answering God for one 
of a thousand, I think I should have found a way of 
answering for the whole thousand. 

The plea " it was but once" never merited a hearing. 

If any duty may be neglected, what is it *? — God is 
the creditor in regard to every moral debt that is due, 
to whatever being it be owed immediately. 

Pardon is not an object of mere power. — There is no 
intelligent being but refrains from doing many things 
for which he has both inclination and power, and that 
because of some moral reason. 

Christians often seem to like pilgrimage better than 
home, and are reluctant to be delivered at once from all 
sin and sorrow. 

" I am not afraid," says a daring adventurer. Alas ! 
how many have fallen by that courage — have met their 
ruin by going where they were not at all afraid to go. 

It matters not so much where you are, and how you 
are, as what you are. 

There are roses without a thorn, pleasures that have 
no poison, sweets without a snare. Be these mine. 

The amount of the Christianity of some is, that they 
are willing Christ should do them all the good in his 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. S69 

power, and they are willing to obey him in so far as it 
falls in with their convenience. 

Men adhere tenaciously to a false religion ; but the 
professors of the true have ever shown a strange pro- 
pensity to forsake it. The truth, and spiritual worship 
of God cannot be maintained among men, without con- 
tinual Divine interpositions; Jeremiah ii, 11. 

There are certain great principles clearly laid down 
in Scripture, in relation to giving, and the use of pro- 
perty generally, which, by almost all men, are sceptic 
cally disregarded — as, e. g., 1. That what we have, we 
hold as stewards that must give account. 2. That the 
way to increase is to distribute — some are rich because 
liberal. 3. That what is given to the poor, is loaned 
to the Lord. 4. That God has designated a tenth him- 
self — and Pagans give that proportion to their gods. 
5. That what is done to Christians, is done to Christ. 

The government of the universe is not republican, 
but for the very reason it should not be, every other 
should be. 

It is policy, as well as duty, to submit to the judge- 
ments of God. 

See how much better it was with them who went 
into captivity, than those who remained at Jerusalem ; 
Isa. xxiv. 

None are so cruel as enraged ecclesiastics. The 
priests and prophets would have put Jeremiah to death, 
but the princes saved him ; Jer. xxvi. Better appear 
before Pilate than Caiaphas. 

There are two effects of the cross of Christ — two rea* 
sons why we should glory in it — an expiatory effect, a 



370 



SELECT REMAINS OF 



moral effect. It is because of the latter Paul exclaims, 
« God forbid," &c. 

The Christian's fear of death is chiefly in anticipa- 
tions, but diminishes as he approaches the mortal hour 
when it becomes extinct. It is quite otherwise with 
impenitent sinners. 

Deuteronomy xiii, 1-5, teaches, that though a mira- 
cle should be wrought in confirmation of a doctrine 
contrary to a truth of the Bible, the doctrine is not to 
be believed — and that God sometimes permits this to 
try his people. It is contended by many, and this 
passage would seem to imply as much, that before 
full credit is given to a miracle, the nature of the 
doctrine, in proof of which it is wrought, should be 
considered. 

Nothing can more forcibly illustrate the malignity of 
unbelief, than the treatment which Christ will hereafter 
show to unbelievers. It is he that will say, " Depart 
ye cursed ;" and he will say it to many to whom it was 
said, " Come unto me." What a change ! And why ? 
Unbelief is the cause. 

When a parent offers a child a favor, and he refuses 
it, how apt he is to withdraw the offer. Is there not 
danger of God's withholding the offer of life, from those 
that persist in refusing 1 

Free living leads to free thinking. 

The very existence of Christianity is a demonstration 
of its truth and divinity. 

There are no arbitrary mysteries in Christianity. 
They are all necessary. Whatever is concealed from 
man, his own finiteness conceals from him. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 371 

Some of the most important tests of Christian charac- 
ter we are in the habit of overlooking, such as self- 
denial, and mourning for the sins of others — and we 
conclude ourselves to be Christians on equivocal evi- 
dence. The servants of righteousness are, by a sort of 
necessity, righteous ; as those of sin, sinners. Men are 
self-arbiters only to a certain extent. 

Men put off religion on the same principle, and with 
the same intent, that they put off paying their debts 
sometimes, meaning never to pay them, or, at least, 
hoping to be able to avoid payment. 

God can make up every loss, and supply every lack, 
and he has a right to recall every loan. 

A tyrant is one who substitutes authority for law and 
reason. 

There is no example of a lusus gratiee as of a lusus 
naturae. 

That our discipline in admitting members to the 
church is not too strict, is confirmed by the world, 
when they say that there are so many in that ought 
not to be. 

That our actions do, in some respects, coincide with 
the requirements of the law of God, does not constitute 
their obedience. To be obedient, they must be inten- 
tionally conformed to it, and out of a regard to God's 
authority ; that is, his law must be both the rule and 
reason of our obedience. 

Conscience is our only private rule of action. Error 
is sin existing in principle. Sin is error acted out. 
We are as answerable for our motives as for our reso- 
lutions. 



372 



SELECT REMAINS OF 



Our feelings and actions are evidently according to 
our belief. 

The only reason why a man should wish to live, is, 
that he may be useful. This was that which recon- 
ciled Paul to live ; Phil. i. 

It is curious the way in which men get their creed or 
principles. They get their practice first, and then make 
their principles conform to it. How do men come to 
think certain things lawful and right in trade, but be- 
cause they have got into the habit of practising them, 
and it is not convenient to give them up. " If I believe 
so and so," says one, "then I shall have to give up such a 
thing and do so and so." This is being afraid of the truth. 

If you wish merely to be amused, employ not the 
Gospel to do it, but the pipe, timbrel, and dance. God 
has never promised to render his people what the world 
can admire. 

Christ was not a partisan with the sinner against the 
law. 

When a sinner asks what he must do to be saved, tell 
him not what he may do and yet be lost — unless it be 
in the way of warning. 

Barbarians never civilize themselves. Civilized na- 
tions have sunk into barbarism, but not the reverse. 

How few men act from principle ! 

The shadow of death is able to darken the brightest 
scene. 

Some parents and masters never commend. It is all 
reproof and censure. They seem to take notice only of 
faults. What a different example Christ sets in his 
Epistles to the churches ! 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 373 

Look at the case of Hezekiah, as illustrating the con- 
sistency of the efficacy of prayer, with the fixedness of 
the Divine purpose. 

What are the obligations immediate of those who 
hear the Gospel 1 It were well if this question were 
settled in the minds of ministers and Christians. What- 
ever they are, they ought to be urged on the conscience, 
and not others. 

I bear to error a degree of the same hatred that I feel 
towards sin, and am determined to persecute the one, 
as I do the other. 

That which Christ pronounces the one thing needful, 
the world pronounces the only thing not needful. 

The quantity of life is to be estimated not merely 
from the duration, but also from the intenseness of 
living. 

Because Jehu obeyed God in certain respects, though 
he was not a good man, God promised that his children 
to the fourth generation should sit on the throne of 
Israel — and so it came to pass. This was not merely 
a fact foreseen by God, but a purpose executed by 
him. 

Amaziah put to death those who slew his father, but 
not their children, according to Deut. xxiv, 16. Why, 
then, did the family of Achan perish with him 1 

Our liberties are in danger, from what 1 — from Pa- 
pists in religion, and no other religionists. Hear what 
they contend for. — 1. That they can forgive sins. 2. 
That the efficacy of sacraments depends on the inten- 
tion of the administrator. This puts the people in the 

power of the priesthood completely — a grand falsehood. 
32 



374 



SELECT REMAINS OF 



Some wonder why the Protestant clergy have not as 
much power and influence as Popish priests. Here is 
a reason. Protestantism is the palladium of liberty. 
3. That they are the only authorized expositors of the 
Bible. 

The main part of mankind are so thoughtless, that it 
has become a eulogy to say a man thinks, though it 
raises him only above a dog or a horse. 

Inconveniences are rather found by experience, than 
forseen by judgment. Hence beware of innovations. 

He who cannot rear a hut, may demolish a palace. 

The wish is father to the thought. 

J would not believe in Popery, though signs and 
wonders should be wrought in support of it ; Deut. xiii, 
1, 2, 3. 

Every vice has a name of honor, and every virtue 
an epithet of disgrace. Pharaoh asked, " who is the 
Lord 1" God taught him by the plagues who he was. 

Good thoughts pass through carnal hearts, but settle 
not there. 

Those who attempt most good, will suffer most scandal. 
Hence the hue and cry against some more than others. 

What different things interest heaven and earth ! 

Men often think they are benefited by preaching 
when they are not. They are interested, but it is not 
the right kind of interest they feel. Predestination is 
objected to by many, because it is supposed that the 
end is determined, without regard to the means. 

He is an infidel who believes in the innocency of 
unbelief, or who does not acknowledge the obligations 
of faith. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 375 

Grant the Universalist all that he contends for, in 
regard to the meaning of the word everlasting, and still 
he cannot prove but that future punishment is literally 
endless ; for, all he can show, is, that the word does 
not always mean endless, and, therefore, may not in 
this case. 

The first taste of the cup of blessing is bitter. 

God sometimes takes the will for the deed, but never 
the deed for the will. A life of prayer is followed by 
an eternity of praise. 

Few men sin long against conviction. 

There are some who never go out of mourning until 
they put on their grave clothes. We sometimes feel 
too much to think. 

We die out of turn. 

If we live only if the Lord will, how strange that we 
live so long, when we so greatly provoke him. 

No created being is so like God as the immortal soul, 
yet religion in the soul is a thousand times more divine 
than the soul itself. If, by chance, there is an earth, by 
chance there may be a hell. 

It was the tenth commandment that convicted Paul. 
He says, " I had not known sin unless the law had said, 
Thou shalt not covet." It was because that law reaches 
the heart. 

A man's conscience is sometimes too strong for his creed. 

There is no professed Christian who is not able both 
to advance and to disgrace religion. " Let as many ser- 
vants" &c. 

Happiness depends not on our possessions, but dispo- 
sitions. 



376 SELECT REMAINS OF 

We speak of a mysterious Providence. How neces- 
sarily a great deal of Providence must be mysterious ! 
It would be strange indeed, if we could comprehend the 
plan of God in the government of the universe. 

Some have their oil to buy when they want it to burn. 

Christ says to all, " take, eat ;" but many decline the 
offer. 

Let us, when contending for the doctrine of Christian- 
ity, not forget its spirit. 

The two men who were most interested in finding 
Christ guilty, bore their testimony to his innocence. 
" I have betrayed innocent blood." " I find no fault in 
him." 

Christ became man that he might have an eye to 
weep, as well as to see with. 

Man is not saved by power. 

If the throne of grace be so delightful, what will be 
the throne of glory ! 

It is strange that the subject of grace should be so 
unwilling to become a subject of glory. 

Shall not that satisfy my conscience, which satisfies 
God 1 Is my conscience more holy, more just than He? 

Ice broken, and ice melted, represent the two repent- 
ances. 

Will the Head let the members perish ! 

Does not he who loves the head, love the members 
also? 

Does not God require spiritual obedience of men *? 

Sin is washed away in baptism, in the same sense 
that Christ's flesh is eaten, and blood drank, in the 
Lord's supper. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 377 

Sanballat and company first laughed, then got angry, 
and then very wroth, as the building of the wall of 
Jerusalem proceeded. 

If a man refuse to take the oath of allegiance, it is 
esteemed as a refusal of subjection. Does it justify him 
in not taking the oath, that he fears he would not keep 
it 1 No ! though, while he is assured he would not 
keep it, being conscious of Wanting the spirit of subjec- 
tion, he had better not take it. 

Prayer has a power more than omnipotent, for it pre-^ 
vails over omnipotence. 

There are those who not only live without God, but 
may be said, in some sense, to be living icithout them- 
selves. Not only is not God in all their thoughts, but 
even themselves are not. Not only do they live with- 
out religious reflections, but without any reflection 
whatever. 

Men's miracles are as silly as God's are sublime. 

If the delay of hope sickens the heart, what will be 
the consequences of the death of hope. 

When a wife is taken, all seems lost but honor and 
God. At such a time the whole soul is heart, and the 
whole heart one wound, bleeding and not bound up, 
and, but for God, broken. 

The brightest blaze of intelligence is of incalculably 
less value than the smallest spark of charity. 

There is no greatness comparable to the greatness of 
goodness. It is not the sages, nor the statesmen, but 
the saints, that are the excellent of the earth. 

The want of mutual esteem among men of genius, is 

not always owing to envy or jealousy, but to a want of 
32* 



378 SELECT REMAINS OF 

sympathy, and a deficiency of analogous ideas in the 
parties. 

Richardson and Fielding mutually contemned each 
other, their manner being so unlike. 

Hence, contempt of some for writings which require 
talents different from their own. 

The personal character of an author cannot be infer- 
red from the character of his writings. Bayle was a 
chaste man — also Smollet — Young, cheerful, and pined 
for preferment — Pascal a hypochondriac — Rochefoucauld 
an example of the moral qualities he denied to exist — 
while cardinal Be Retz, who censured him for question- 
ing the reality of virtue, had none of them — Klopstock 
a volatile youth. The poet is a painter of the soul. 

The virtues of Pagans are as opposite to Christianity 
as their vices. 

We must not employ all our time in whetting the 
scythe. 

There is evil, and a way to escape it. This is 
enough. 

That assurance which sin will not damp, is not worth 
a straw. 

A reason why women are forbidden to preach. They 
would persuade without argument, and reprove without 
giving offence. 

This world is a hospital, with but two wards. In the 
one, men are miserable ; in the other, mad. 

See the unprofitableness of controversy in the case of 
Job and his friends. If God had not interposed, and 
they had lived till now, they would have continued the 
dispute. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 379 

Much depends on the way by which we come into 
trouble. Paul and Jonah were both in a storm. 

It is wonderful to consider how easy and pleased we 
are, when we rally, play upon, and despise others, and 
how angry and choleric when we ourselves are rallied, 
played upon, and despised. 

Gordon Hall was offered ten thousand a year, or 
fifty pounds a week, for two hours of the day, by the 
East India Company, as an interpreter. Yet he had 
more profitable employment. 

They only are kings who rule themselves. 

There are but about sixteen thousand Moravians in 
the Christian world, and yet they support one hundred 
and twenty-seven Missionary establishments. 

Men use words often not as the vehicle, but the sub- 
stitute of thought. 

The hardened sinner speaks of original sin as an 
excuse for actual sin, but the penitent sinner regards it 
as only an aggravation. This was the sentiment of 
David, as expressed in Psalm li. 

Prayer is the breath of faith. The Christian can 
climb only by clinging. 

Harmony is the perfection of character. 

He that is intelligent, will be intelligible. 

The vital organs and functions are independent of 
the will. 

Of one hundred and twenty students at Andover, 
there were ninety-two, both of whose parents were 
pious ; one hundred and twelve had each a pious 
mother, and one a pious father. Of one hundred and 
twenty subjects of the late revival in Yale, only three 



880 SELECT REMAINS OF 

remained to be baptized. Of one hundred students in 
Middlebury, ninety were pious, and all in the Senior 
class but one, and he anxious — two, at the commence- 
ment of the late revival, were so hostile, that they 
burnt their Bibles, and, in a few days after, they were 
converted. In a village of New York, containing fifty- 
two families, all but six had family prayer, and every 
person in the village over ten years was convinced. 

High worth is elevated place — 

'T is wealth, though it commands no exchequer ; 

And, though it wears no riband, it is renown. 

This is true glory and repute, when God, 
Looking on the earth, with approbation marks 
The just man, and divulges him, through heaven, 
To all his angels, who, with true applause, 
Recount his praise. 

Similar causes under similar circumstances, produce 
similar effects in morals as in physics. But, in morals, 
we do not always know when the circumstances are 
similar. 

Knowledge is necessary to the perception of ignorance. 

A man's affection is often his affliction. 

The best of men, are men at the best. 

Never impute a bad motive when you can find a good 
one. 

As there is something incomprehensible in God in his 
relations to space and time, viz., his omnipresence and 
eternity, why should there not be in his relation to 
number ? 

We confess our faults in the plural, and denv them in 
the singular. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 381 

The Bible is a telescope, that brings to view the 
magnificent prospect of eternity. 

Christ wrought no miracles of vengeance. 

Levity is the appearance of doing evil. 

To point an epigram is easier than to produce an 
argument. 

The better land. 
Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy, 
Ear hath not heard its deep songs of joy ; 
Dreams cannot picture a world so fair ; 
Sorrow and death may not enter there ; 
Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom, 
Far beyond the cloud and beyond the tomb ; 
It is there. 

In heaven an ungodly foot (Foote) tramples on the 
saints no more. 

Denials in love are better than grants in anger. 

The Gospel affords a cure, but supplies no anodyne. 

Some are employed all their life long in planting 
thorns in the pillow upon which, at last, they are to lie 
down and die. 

All relief of mind is not conversion. 

Take away the Bible, and the human race has lost 
its records. 

Our Judge stepped from the bench and died for us. 

The blood of Christ on the head is a curse, on the 
heart a blessing. 

A great advantage of education is to teach us how to 
employ our leisure. 

Minor sorrows will speak out, while great ones are 
mute. 



382 



SELECT REMAINS OF 



God speaks before he strikes. 

When the ship that carried Jonah sailed from Joppa, 
there was only one good man aboard, and the storm 
was for his sake. 

My boast is not that I deduce my birth 
From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth ; 
But higher far my proud pretensions rise, 
The son of parents passed into the skies. 

Hosea must have prophesied eightj^ years, and yet all 
that remains of him are twelve short chapters. 

Sunbeam of summer, Oh, what is like thee ! 

Hope of the wilderness, joy of the sea ; 

One thing is like thee, to mortals given, 

The faith, touching all tilings with hues of heaven. 

The state of the Christian, while on earth, is not one 
of health, but of convalescence. 

There is no escape from education. They who 
would teach children well, must first learn a great deal 
from them. 

In Paris, during the Revolution, theatres increased 
from six to twenty-five. 

There are five kinds of conscience — ignorant, flattering, 
seared, wounded, peaceable. 

The worst orphans are those who have wicked pa- 
rents alive. 

While parents are living, there seems to be some- 
thing between us and death ; but, when they are 
removed, his course seems open to us. 

No man is discerned to be vicious so soon as he is so. 
The serpent's sting does not just then grow when he 
strikes us in a vital part. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 383 

The enormous tools that nature is placing in our 
hands, clearly foretell that she has some wonderful 
work for us to perform. 

Even Jesus had the trial of irreligious relations ; John 
vii, 5. 

In judging ourselves, we cannot be too severe ; in judg- 
ing others, we cannot be too candid. We should judge 
ourselves by our motives, but others by their actions. 

Many things offend us which do not hurt us. 

Diogenes reproached Plato for never having given 
offence to any. 

The name Lamb is applied to Christ in his exalta- 
tion, as well as abasement. 

Jlpathy is the worst madness a people can possibly 
fall into. 

A drop is water, and a spark is fire. 

Eternity will make what is good, better ; but what is 
bad, worse. 

Half the pleasure of solitude arises from our having a 
friend at hand, to whom we can say, How delightful 
this retirement is ! 

Confidence in God should not lead us to disregard 
any advantage we can derive from ordinary resources. 

God's sovereignty is not our rule, but our resource. 

We never know the worth of blessings, till we know 
the want of them. 

Let us live, looking upwards. 

He is the poor man, who, when he has a great deal, 
desires more. Contentment is wealth. 

We should speak not merely so that we can be un- 
derstood, but so as that we cannot be misunderstood. 



384 SELECT REMAINS OF 

There never yet has been a state of society commen- 
surate with the desires and capacities of man. 

If brass is a mirror of the countenance, wine is of the 
mind. 

If we refuse mercy here, we shall have justice to 
eternity. 

Wouldst thou be crowned the monarch of a little 
world, command thyself. 



■As the sun, 



Ere it is risen, sometimes paints its image 
In the atmosphere — so often do the spirits 
Of great events stride on before the events, 
And in to-day already walks to-morrow. 

If any sin is fashionable, Christians should be out of 
fashion. 

Pride takes no delight in begging. Hence, "the 
wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not 
seek after God." 

Village schools, and well served churches, and zeal- 
ous parish ministrations, and a universal system of 
popular education, into which the lessons of the Gospel 
of Jesus Christ largely and pervadingly enter, these 
form the main elements of our nation's peace and our 
nation's greatness. 

Christianity in earnest, is the Christianity that speak- 
eth urgently and importunately to the consciences of 
men ; the uncompromising Christianity that enjoins 
the holiness of the New Testament in all its spirituality 
and extent, and asserts the doctrine of the New Testa- 
ment in all its depth and all its peculiarity. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 385 

Our not doing is set down among our darkest deeds. 

Expediency is weaker than the tyrant's plea. 

Any man can much better afford to lose money than 
to do wrong. 

It seems to be a law of mind, that, once perverted, it 
should never be able to recover itself. 

The idea of right is the primary and highest revela- 
tion of God to the human mind. We little understand 
the solemnity of the moral principle in every human 
mind. 

The Christian religion is a testimony to the worth of 
man in the sight of God, to the importance of human 
nature, and to the infinite purposes for which we were 
framed. 

I estimate political revolutions chiefly by their ten- 
dency to exalt men's conceptions of their nature, and to 
inspire them with respect for one another's claims. 

The old bonds of society are instinct, interest, force. 
The true tie is mutual respect, calling forth mutual acts 
of love. 

Nothing is to make man a true lover of man, but the 
discovery of something interesting and great in human 
nature. Until this is done, all charity is little more 
than instinct, and we shall but coolly embrace the 
great interests of human nature. 

The true view of great men is, that they are only 
examples and manifestations of our common nature, 
showing what belongs to all souls. The light which 
shines from them is but a faint revelation of the power 
which is treasured up in every human being. Moral 
greatness does not consist in doing extraordinary things, 
33 



386 SELECT REMAINS OF 

but in doing ordinary things with a great mind, that is, 
with a view to please and glorify God. 

I was a stricken deer, that left the herd 

Long since. With many an arrow deep infixed 

My panting side was charged, when I withdrew 

To seek a tranquil death in distant shades. 

There I was found by One who had himself 

Been hurt by archers. In his side he bore, 

And in his hands and feet, the cruel scars. 

With gentle force soliciting the darts, 

He drew them forth, and healed and bade me live. 

" Win and wear it," is the motto on the crown we 
strive for. 

Religion should be not a rapture, but a habit. 

Modesty and diffidence always attend true greatness, 
in nature and in grace. Samuel was slow to tell his 
vision ; and Paul told his not till after fourteen years, 
and then by compulsion. 

Conscience is a bosom friend or bosom fury — the quar- 
ter sessions before its grand assize. 

The mind is the standard of the man. 

All on earth is shadow ; all beyond 

Is substance. The reverse is folly's creed. 

How solid all where change shall be no more. 

Christianity was intended not to contract, but to ex- 
pand our affections. 

The romance of religion is extremely inimical to its 
reality. 

It is not names, but things, that will carry it at the 
great day. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 387 

The word presbyter, or elder, primarily signifies an 
aged person. As such were usually selected to fill sta- 
tions of dignity and authority, the word became a title 
of office. Presbyter is expressive of authority, bishop of 
duty. 

Moral precepts cannot reform — there must be a heav- 
enly principle implanted. 

Causes of misery are three, a sense of guilt, the fear of 
danger, and a discontented mind. There are wanting, to 
make us happy, a sense of pardon, a. feeling of safely, and 
a contented mind. 

A man governed by circumstances instead of principles, 
can never display character, for character is the effect 
and fame of habit. 

In Scripture, temptations mean not always enticements 
to sin, but any events which morally try us in the way 
of duty. 

Some owe no man any thing, but they rob God. 

Charity is good will to men, not good opinion of 
them. 

Those who suspect all, are to be suspected. They 
have learned human nature at home. 

Miracles are the credentials of Christianity ; charity 
is its essence. 

Divine grace is as necessary to true philanthropy as 
to piety. 

The Christian in his sick room, as in an antecham- 
ber, dresses for heaven. 

The whole process of practical and experimental 
religion is carried on by the instrumentality of right 
sentiments. 



388 



SELECT REMAINS OF 



The least every Christian should do, is to resolve so 
to live, as to give no occasion for the truth being evil 
spoken of on his account. 

A man's family is but himself multiplied and reflected. 

" All wickedness is weakness." 



• If weakness may excuse, 



What murderer, what traitor, parricide, 
Incestuous, sacrilegious, but may plead it? 
All wickedness is weakness 



He who will not reason, is a bigot ; he who cannot, a 
fool ; he who dares not, a slave. 

Scarce any time is spent with less thought, than a 
great part of what is spent in reading. 

The best way to make progress is to teach what you 
have learned. 

The sacred Scriptures always describe rather than 
define faith, and show what it is by what it does. 

Much depends on the nature of our gratitude, what 
we thank God for. 

The Christian's burden is like the wings of a bird, 
which she carries, yet they support her in her flight to 
heaven. 

What must be the fruit of the tree of life, when its 
very leaves heal the nations. 

That which satisfies the righteousness of God, may 
well satisfy the alarmed and afflicted conscience of the 
sinner. 

Sanctification means either a change in the qualities 
of things, or a change only in their appropriation and 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 389 

We may cast our care on the Lord, but not our work. 
We must not expect God to do for us, what we can 
do for ourselves. 

Whence came I ? — memory cannot say ; — 

What am I ? — knowledge will not show ; — 

Bound wither ? — Ah ! away ! away ! 

Far as eternity can go. 

Thy love to win, thy wrath to flee, 

Oh God ! thyself my helper be. 

Consistency in a Christian minister is mighty elo- 
quence. 

God loves to see us, while trusting in his faithful 
wordy disregarding the discouragements of his Provi- 
dence. 

Prayer is nothing without earnestness and resolution. 
How can we expect that God should regard supplica- 
tions, with which we are unaffected ourselves. 

If the arrow of prayer is to enter heaven, we must 
draw it from a soul full before. 

That religion which leads the soul to God, must be 
right. 

The infidel does not pray — his religion is wrong. 

Though his hand be lifted up to destroy, yet from 
that very hand do I expect salvation. 

A lawsuit was lately instituted in Spain, in which the 
heirs of a rich man sued the church, for the recovery of 
moneys paid under the will of the deceased, to purchase, 
at the fair market price, twelve thousand masses for 
his soul. The priests, though they took the money, 
objected to the labor, and the pope, at their request, 
33* 



390 SELECT REMAINS OF 

abridged it, pronouncing- that twelve masses should be 
as beneficial as twelve thousand. The council for the 
church, in answer to this allegation of non-performance 
of contract, produced the pope's certificate, that the soul 
had been delivered by the efficacy of those masses, and, 
that value being thus received, there was not any 
breach of contract. 

Peter died A. D. 66. John survived him forty years 
— was he subject to the successor of Peter *? 

The greatest honor some men could do the Christian 
name, would be to disclaim it. 

Will not He who has made it so solemnly obligatory 
on men to provide for those of their own household, 
himself provide for his ? 

The work of heaven should be done in the spirit of 
heaven. 

Time reproves, but eternity commands. 

The same word means rule and feed — hence kings 
and rulers should be pastors and shepherds. 

Religion is a most cheerful and happy thing to prac- 
tise, but a most sad and melancholy thing to neglect. 
The government of God in the soul is a government 
which regulates, but does not enslave. 

There are three lights, of nature, of grace, and of glory. 
One great difficulty, that of the wicked's prosperity, 
which so perplexed Job, Daniel, &c, gives way to a 
single ray of evangelical light, which reveals a future 
life of reward and punishment — as the light of grace 
clears up difficulties which the light of nature could 
not, so will the light of glory clear up such as the light 
of grace cannot. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 391 

We may stop sinning, but the evil influence of our 
past guilt must be checked by some other agency, far 
more powerful than any penitence of ours. 

Affectation is the offspring of vanity — it does not rise 
to what a man of the world would call the dignity of 
pride ; for vanity is a sin which is hateful even to sinners. 

True courage is always tender. 

The great interest themselves in frivolities, and the 
aggregate of their sentiments is termed fashion. 

The world, the flesh, and the devil, are formidable 
personages, but lucre is a match for them all. 

Death, the old serpent's son ! 

Thou hadst a sting once like thy sire 

That carried hell and ever-burning fire, 

But those black days are donej 
Thy foolish spite buried thy sting 

In the profound and wide 

Wound of a Saviour's side, 
And now thou art become a tame and harmless thing : 

A thing we dare not fear 

Since we hear 
That our triumphant God, to punish thee 
For the affront thou didst him on the tree, 
Hath snatched the keys of hell out of thy hand 

And made thee stand 
A porter at the gate of Life, thy mortal enemy. 
Oh thou who art that gate, command that he 

May, when we die, 

And thither fly, 
Let us into the courts of heaven through thee. 

The valley of humiliation is the safest, most lovely, 
and most fertile spot between the city of destruction 
and heaven. 



392 SELECT REMAINS OF 

Love is the diamond among the jewels of the believer's 
breastplate. The other graces shine like the precious 
stones of nature, with their own peculiar lustre and 
various hues, but the diamond is white, uniting all the 
colors. 

How unlike is the Christian world to the Christian 
doctrine ! The seal is fair and excellent, but the im- 
pression is languid, or not visible. We glory in the 
show and appearance of that, the life and power where- 
of, we hate and deride. It is a reproach with us not to 
be called a Christian, and a greater reproach to be one. 

If such and such doctrines obtain not in our professed 
belief, we are heretics or infidels ; if they do in our prac- 
tice, we are precisians and fools. In other things, men 
are wont to act and practise according to the known 
rules of their several callings and professions, and he 
would be reckoned the common fool of the neighbor- 
hood who should not do so. 

Men are afraid to be serious, lest they should be 
thought mad. 

The experience of almost six thousand years hath 
testified the incompetency of every worldly thing to 
make men happy. But the practice and course of the 
world are such as if this were some late and sure exper- 
iment which (for curiosity) every one must be trying 
over again. Every age renews the inquiry after an 
earthly felicity. 

The sensual man's happiness lies in colors, tastes, 
and sounds. 

Regeneration is an introduction of the very principles 
of blessedness. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 393 

Motion and rest do exactly correspond to each other. 
Nothing can naturally rest in any place to which it 
was not before naturally inclined to move. It is, there- 
fore, a vanity and contradiction, to speak of the soul's 
being satisfied in that which it was not before con- 
scious of. 

Let the weary, wandering soul bethink itself and 
retire to God. He will not mock thee with shadows as 
the world has done. 

Too many annex a profession of eminent godliness 
to an indulged, garrulous, impatient temper of spirit. 
Nothing pleases them ; their mercies are not worth the 
acknowledgment — their .afflictions intolerable ; they fall 
out and quarrel with all occurrences, actions, events ; 
neither man or God doth any thing good in their sight 
— the world is not well governed. 

Did Christ die to take away the necessity of our 
being Christians, and must his death serve not to de- 
stroy sin out of the world, but Christianity 1 

Total death knows no grievances, makes no com* 
plaint. He who feels the weight of death is not 
entirely dead. 

Sickness is not for getting religion, but for trying it. 

Old men change, rather than leave their vices. 

Possibility is a great way off from performance. 

Pharaoh never complained of his heart's hardness, it 
was so hard. 

He that mourns for other's sins, does not mourn from 
the fear of hell. 

The prospect of eternal separation from some they 
love is one of the peculiar afflictions of the righteous. 



394 SELECT REMAINS OF 

I have known a father's affections alienated from a 
child, because that child became the child of God ; as 
if he was unwilling his child should have a heavenly 
father to betake himself to, in the anguish of being 
bereaved of his earthly parent. 

The object of a constitution is to restrain the govern- 
ment, as that of laws is to restrain individuals. 

To give to the rich is a cleanly way of begging, or 
a subtile kind of trade. It is hardly courtesy ; Prov. 
xxii, 16. 

A hundred to one is the rate of interest God allows 
now. 

The rich are the treasurers of God for other men. 
The honor of distribution is given to them. - 

If Christians are no more moral than Pagans, yet 
Christians are irreligiously so, while Pagans are reli- 
giously so — Christians have not the sanction of their 
religion for their immorality ; Pagans have. 

Nothing is so unstable as the people, for the people 
consists of men, every one of whom prefers himself to 
his sovereign. 

The hope of obtaining a good, is even more seductive 
than the possession of the good itself. 

Christ's declaration concerning little children, "of 
such is the kingdom of heaven," decides the admissi- 
bility of infants to privileges which they cannot appre- 
ciate. 

Notwithstanding the reformation of Josiah, God 
would not turn from His wrath because of the provo- 
cations of Manasseh, especially for the innocent blood 
he shed, which the Lord would not pardon. 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 395 

We remember not many years' health, so much as 
one day's sickness. 

Satan's temptations are not our sins. Not we, but 
he, shall answer for them. " Who shall lay any thing," 
&c. ; Rom. viii, 33, — not God — Satan, but his evidence 
will not be heard in court. " He is a liar," says our 
judge ; John viii, 44. 

Satan knows how to angle for souls better than to 
show them the hook and line, or fright them away with 
a noise, or with his own appearance. 

Repentance does not repair the evils done. 

A sinner may be converted at too great an expense. 

Scoffers and opposers are to be numbered among the 
partially awakened. 

If God be obeyed, conversions must be sudden, for he 
commands to repent now. 

Praise will not draw the Christian out of a corner, 
nor fear drive him into one. 

Cruelty is too great an epicure to devour her food at 
once, but mumbles it to prolong her pleasure. 

A famous bandit, lately executed in Spain, wore a 
haircloth shirt, and about his person was found a rosary, 
a prayer book, and a lock of hair of St. Dominic, be- 
sides a poniard, &c. He always placed a cross beside 
the bodies of his murdered victims, that he might not, 
as he said, sacrifice the soul with the body. He used 
to strew flowers on their graves, and offer prayers for 
their brief continuance in purgatory. The cross placed 
by them had been blessed, and was intended to help 
them to repel Satan, if they died not in a state of 
grace. 



396 



SELECT REMAINS OF 



Our thoughts, like the waters of the sea, when exhaled 
towards heaven, will lose their offensive bitterness and 
saltness, and leave behind them every distasteful quality, 
and sweeten into an amiable humanity and candor, till 
they descend in gentle showers of love and kindness on 
our fellow creatures. 

The union of variety and uniformity constitutes the 
beauty of life. 

Each line of our behaviour should terminate in God, 
as the centre of our actions. 

iEschines the philosopher, out of his admiration of 
Socrates, when divers persons presented him with other 
gifts, made a tender to him of himself. Less was 
thought an insufficient acknowledgment of the worth 
and favors of a man. Can any thing less be thought 
worthy of a God 1 Dedicate yourself to God, and you 
become a sanctuary as well as sacrifice. 

Can we think it fit that we should be no otherwise 
God's, than fields, woods, mountains, and brute beasts 
are ] Or, that he should have no other interest in us 
than he has in devils 1 

No one need expect to be saved by a Gospel which 
he despises — that the grace of it shall save him, while 
the authority of it does not rule him. 

When men perish under the Gospel, they are benight- 
ed at noon. They have created to themselves a horrid 
darkness in the midst of a bright and clear day. They 
are lost in a day of salvation. Lost not only under the 
means of salvation, but by them. Gospel light strikes 
them blind. The sweet vital savors of the Gospel strike 
them dead. Invited, yet lost ! Warned, exhorted, be- 



WILLIAM NEVINS, D. D. 397 

sought, reproved, yet lost ! Lost, not as to any thing 
which is theirs, but as to themselves. Not a part lost, 
but the whole. Lost contrary to expectations. 

When one is to be but his own companion, why will 
he make himself so very ill company to himself? 

" Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye 
are," (more than ordinarily disposed to the reverence of 
that which is divine.) The finest exordium in ancient 
oratory. 

All great philanthropists, philosophers, &c, such as 
Howard, Newton, Washington, are simple characters. 
The affinities of evil are with complexity ; and those of 
good, with simplicity. 

" Of one blood." It is not true that the blood of 
some is a celestial ichor, to which that circulating 
in the veins of others is but as base puddle. Oppress 
sor ! what are you crushing ] Bigot ! what are you 
cursing ] The image of your God in your brother's 
person. 

Joy is exceedingly connatural to true living religion. 

There cannot be a greater demonstration of it than this, 

that there can be no state, externally so bad, that can 

make their joy unseasonable. That must needs be a 

very strong, predominant, and prevailing principle in 

any thing, which converts and turns that which is of 

an opposite nature into nutriment to itself. Such is 

the joy that can even feed upon and maintain itself out 

of afflictions. God's people can rejoice not only when 

they are afflicted, but that they are afflicted. 

To gain only patience by trials, countervails all evils 

which such trials can bring. 
34 



398 



SELECT REMAINS, ETC. 






Life exhibits little more than a funeral procession, 
where friend follows friend ; weeping to-day, and wept 
for to-morrow. 

The things which cannot satisfy, can nevertheless 
ruin men. 

Opposing Omnipotence to difficulty was their secret, 
who so gloriously overcame a world that was not wor- 
thy of them. 

God with us, and all things in God, is light in dark- 
ness, life in death. 

Christ encourages none to advance on the ground of 
his own strength, any more than on that of his own 
desert. He is as jealous of the power of his arm, as of 
the merit of his blood. 

If there is a law, which irresistibly conveys the bodies 
of the pious to darkness and to dust, there is another, 
not less certain or less powerful, which conducts their 
spirits to the abodes of bliss, to the bosom of their 
Father and their God. 

Few made application to Christ but the children of 
affliction. 



\ 






